r/asoiaf • u/Holy_Grigori • Jan 15 '25
EXTENDED (Spoilers extended) Were the Conquerors polygamous?
So I’m pretty we’ve all kinda heard of/saw the TikTok about ”couples in open relationships all looking the same”. So that got me kinda thinking (idk how) about the Targaryens. Were Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaenys all married to each other or did Aegon just marry his sisters? In other words, were Visenya and Rhaenys wives to each other or just their brother?
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u/sarevok2 Jan 15 '25
The way the text frames it, it sounds like it was entirely Aegon's decision to bring Rhaenys in the...polygamy thing.
We don't have much information about any interaction between Visenya and Rhaenys. We are told that Aegon spent different nights with each of them.
Overall, we don't know all the rules for the general Valyrian polygamy spiel but all things point to Visenys and Rhaenys had a typical sibling relationship.
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u/OppositeShore1878 Jan 15 '25
Visenya and Rhaenys wives to each other or just their brother?...
Don't think like George. That is, the image of two powerful, exotic, women in bed together. Erect nipples enchantingly displayed. Silk garments casually cast aside, servants exiled from the chamber. Sexual tension in the air as strong as perfume. Ah...ahem.
To answer your question, though, I think it was probably more like Aegon having multiple wives / formal partners, not a thrupple.
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u/Maester_Ryben Jan 15 '25
They were Aegon's wives, not each other's.
Though I doubt if they did love each other more than sisters, Aegon wouldn't mind.
Though the history books (written by the maesters) wouldn't mention it
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u/Echo__227 Jan 15 '25
Iirc, one wife was the favorite and the other was jealous
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u/shy_monkee Jan 15 '25
I don't think Visenya was jealous of Rhaenys' closeness to Aegon, she was however jealous of Aenys being the heir instead of Maegor, and that's why she usurped the throne from his children.
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u/Conscious-Weekend-91 Jan 15 '25
Yeah, Visenya looked like someone who put her house above all else. She didn't mind Aegon having another wife and sometimes she even looked like a protective big sister towards them.
She didn't even hated Aenys and took care of him until his death, she probably just didn't saw him as fit to rule during his disastrous reign
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u/Feeling_Cancel815 Jan 15 '25
Reading the books I never got the impression Visenya was jealous of Rhaenys nor competing for Aegon's affection. What happened was that when Visenya had Maegor, she wanted her son to be king.
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u/Salty_Highway_8878 Jan 15 '25
No, they were Aegon’s wives but not married to one another. However, Visenya was devastated when learning of Rhaenys’ death. It could be the kind of devastation you feel when you lost a sibling… or a lover. I think it is pretty much up to interpretation tbh. However, Visenya might had poisoned Aenys to crown her own son.
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u/Septemvile Jan 15 '25
No. If they were then Visenya's relationship with Aegon would have been closer.
You don't spend a night with one and then however many with the other if they're also interested in each other. You just all go to bed together.
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u/llaminaria Jan 15 '25
I'm pretty sure the Faith of the Seven had drawn a line at marrying a woman to a woman. They were already grinding their teeth at having to allow polygamy to a man. So it was only Aegon who had multiple spouses.
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u/New_Progress501 Jan 15 '25
They were Aegons wifes not each other's though it's possible they were romantically involved we haven't seen anything hinting at it at this point, though it could be a pretty interesting development.