YMMV / A Northern Dragoness

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Of Aegon the Unworthy, years before he became the king. He tries to make a connection with his son Daeron, worries about Naerys (and only sleeps with her because the two of them are the only Targaryens that can have legitimate children), and feels crushed when he realizes none of them can actually stand him.
  • Also Baelor, generally hailed as a good king if a mite touched. Here, he's basically The Fundamentalist Too Dumb to Live that antagonizes everyone around him with his Actual Pacifist ways.
  • There's the implication that Aegon's "first mistress," Falena Stokeworth, was a sexual predator who took advantage of a fourteen-year-old boy even if nobody quite recognizes it as such; Aegon offhandedly mentions that he cried like Naerys when he lost his virginity.
• Funny Moments:
  • Jonnel's conclusion that Baelor is actually a sword-swallower, and promptly freaking out because he does not want this kind of interest from the king, thank you very much!
  • Jonnel's initial efforts to court Daena leave...something to be desired.
  "Roses are blue, as are violets, too, and...uh, let there be a lifetime of love for me and you?"
  • Jonnel and Daena arrive upon the Isle of Faces, an island sacred to the Old Gods, only to find their efforts to scale the beach get thwarted. Jonnel suggests that the Old Gods are trying to stop them from entering the forest. Daena's solution?
  "Baelor's a septon, and he's a cunt! Can we come in now?"
  • And it seems to work!
  • Aegon penning a letter to the Martells, surrounded by guards trying to out-do each other in irreverence. Even Cregan Stark adds his own barb!
  • Aemon is sent to Essos to rescue a fair maiden from her abducters, except that he learns he's sixty-five years late when arrived. Talk about awkward...
  • Jonnel and Cregan, while reading up on southern wedding ceremonies, are briefly flummoxed by the logistics of the groom changing the bride's cloak when their hands are tied together with ribbons. The hapless servant who's been trying to fasten Jonnel's buttons has to explain that changing the cloak happens beforehand.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Aegon entrusting his newborn daughter, who he's extremely paranoid about, to Aemon, with whom he's just had a short but furious duel.
  "She trusted you, and I trust you too... you're my brother, Aemon. Now and always."
  • Lord Donnel Arryn's wedding gift to the Starks: a beautifully made cradle. It's even made of weirwood and has a heart tree face carved into one side, so that the Old Gods may look upon and protect any child placed in it.
  • Aemon explaining to Daena the arrangements he and Viserys have made to allow her to covertly signal for help if anything goes wrong with her marriage to Jonnel. They aren't about to let another Tagareyn child be hurt.
• Moment of Awesome: The duel between Aemon the Dragonknight and Lord Cregan, the Old Wolf of the North. Dark Sister vs. Ice. Brief as it is, each second is pure awesome until Cregan simply pushes Aemon away, revealing he's holding Ice in one hand... and Dark Sister in the other.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Aegon breaking down in tears after Naerys dies giving birth to their twins - and then the boy not living beyond that night.
  • Aegon actually manages to be quite a heartbreaking character in this story - he does love his wife and son, but every attempt of his to bond with them ends up disastrously. One notable example is when he touched Naerys's pregnant belly and though she didn't stop him, she acts as if Aegon was going to hit him or something while all he's doing is sensing his future child through her belly.

---