This story is set in an alternate Westeros where Robert's Rebellion failed.
THE DIVERGENCE
Rhaegar Targaryen believes he must father a third "dragonhead" to fulfill the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised. He takes Lyanna Stark because of her Stark blood. Rhaegar believes that through her he can unite the Fire and the Ice spoken of in the prophecy, and so bring about the Song of Ice and Fire. In this version, Lyanna goes to him willingly. She was not abducted. Few people know this at the time.
Believing his sister was kidnapped, Brandon Stark rides to King's Landing. The Mad King has him and Lord Rickard killed exactly as in canon. Jon Arryn refuses to execute his wards, Robert and Ned, and raises his banners. The war is longer and bloodier than canon, and this time Rhaegar wins. Robert is killed at the Trident, Jon Arryn dies during the months that followed, Ned bent the knee, and the rebellion is broken.
THE AFTERMATH
- The North lost its heir, countless bannermen and the war, then learned Lyanna had left of her own free will. There is no rescue to justify the dead.
- Ned is pardoned as a man who was "led" into rebellion. He rules the North as Warden and is still married to Catelyn Tully. His house is weakened, and he privately resents his own sister.
- Jon Arryn is dead without a clear heir, so the Vale is stuck in a long succession struggle.
- The Stormlands have been hollowed out. Many of its bannermen and soldiers, in the thousands, have been sent to the Night’s Watch as punishment. Renly Baratheon died during the siege of Storm's End during the Rebellion.
- Lyanna becomes Rhaegar's second wife. She is isolated at court, resented by the North, and valued mainly as a vessel for his prophecy and her Stark blood.
- Elia Martell remains Rhaegar's first wife. Her son Aegon is the heir, and Dorne holds real power at court.
- Rhaegar won through cost, not glory. Most of the Great Houses are unhappy with Targaryen rule.
THE REALM UNDER RHAEGAR
- Jon Connington is Hand of the King and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Stannis holds Storm's End but was insulted by this and will never forgive it. Stannis has a son, Lyonel, the same age as Vaegon, and Shireen has no greyscale.
- Tywin Lannister backed the winning side but was denied a seat on the Small Council after applying. He now schemes through marriages, gold and pressure, and clashes with Dorne.
- Cersei married Edmure Tully under her father’s orders. Her three children are secretly Jaime's.
- The Tyrells backed Rhaegar but were never rewarded and seek a position at court.
- The Small Council is weak or foolish. Its Master of Coin, Erys Dondarrion, is an incompetent opportunist, and the realm's finances are bleeding dry.
- Dragonstone, the ancestral Targaryen seat, has been abandoned by the royal family for decades. Even the title "Prince of Dragonstone" is no longer used. Aegon is styled simply as the Prince That Was Promised and heir to the throne.
THE PROPHECY: RHAEGAR'S OBSESSION
Rhaegar is convinced that the prophecy of the three-headed dragon speaks of a Prince That Was Promised who will defeat the threat from beyond the Wall. In his reading, the Prince will not stand alone. He will rule beside his two sister-wives, and together they will be the reincarnation of the Conquerors: Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys.
He also believes the prophecy is the Song of Ice and Fire. Fire is the Targaryen blood. Ice is the Stark blood. In his mind, a child who carries both can unite the two, which is why he needed a Stark woman and why he chose Lyanna.
In Rhaegar's mind, each child has a fixed role:
- Aegon is the Prince That Was Promised.
- Rhaenys is the second head of the dragon.
- Visenya is the third head.
Everything else, including the realm's stability, his duties as king and his duties as a father, comes second to this belief.
THE BLACKFYRE THREAT
Rhaegar's younger brother, Prince Viserys, was surrounded from early childhood by advisors who told him the same thing again and again. They said Rhaegar is a king obsessed with a prophecy, that his obsession is dragging the realm into poverty and chaos, and that Viserys is the one who deserves the throne. Viserys grew up believing this. In his plan, his sister Daenerys would be his wife and queen.
Rhaegar learned of it and ordered his brother's arrest. Viserys escaped with Daenerys, helped by Varys, and vanished. Rumors from the East say he has joined the surviving descendants of the Blackfyre line and is plotting to take the throne. Both siblings gave up the name Targaryen and now call themselves Blackfyre. The Crown does not know where they are.
All of this happened when Vaegon was five or six years old.
THE PROTAGONIST: VAEGON AND THE RED KEEP
Vaegon is the second son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. He has black Stark hair and Lyanna's deep eyes, but his bone structure is clearly Valyrian. He will clearly grow into a handsome man.
Why he was neglected:
Rhaegar and Lyanna's third child was supposed to be the third head of the dragon, the second sister-wife who would complete the Conquerors' reincarnation. Vaegon was born a boy. A boy cannot be the third head, so in Rhaegar's eyes he was a failure. He was a son born of politics, not prophecy, with no role in the story Rhaegar had written. When Visenya was born three years later, Rhaegar had his true third head. Vaegon had no purpose left, and he was forgotten.
How he was treated:
- His father never spoke a word to him and never truly saw him. Rhaegar was not sadistic, which was worse. He was indifferent.
- Lyanna gave him his name, then turned away from him. When Visenya was born, Rhaegar and Lyanna both fixed their attention on the new third head. Vaegon was treated as a failed practice run at motherhood.
- At three he was moved to the servants' quarters. He had no bed and no window, and he ate scraps from the kitchen floor. He wore rags instead of silks.
- He had to beg for books, ink and any scrap of training, and even then it was treated as charity rather than a birthright. Nobody at court thought it strange.
- At seven, he bested Aegon in a training accident and wounded him. He was beaten until he could barely breathe, then locked in a servant's room without food, water or medical aid for two days. The King himself ordered it. Rhaegar signed the sentence without registering whose it was. Only one soldier took pity on him.
THE ROYAL FAMILY
- Rhaegar: Obsessed with the prophecy and neglectful as both king and father.- Aegon: The heir and Rhaegar's "Promised Prince". Cruel, entitled and physically weak, he sincerely believes he is the Prince That Was Promised, which lets him see his own cruelty as justified. He is especially cruel to his sisters.- Rhaenys: Aegon's sister and the "second head". She suffers under his cruelty.- Visenya: Rhaegar and Lyanna's daughter, born three years after Vaegon. Rhaegar sees her as the "true" third head, and Lyanna dotes on her. She does not know Vaegon exists.
- Lyanna: Hollowed out by guilt, isolation and the North's hatred. She finds it easier to be near a child who is wanted than one who reminds her of her own choices.
- Vaegon: The unwanted middle child.