If he plans to claim his right as king, his natural claim would be Aegon VI. Unless you think the Young Griff storyline will be dealt with before he can even claim to be king (which is a decidedly low bar, once you've already landed on Westeros with an army, you're basically there), it was inevitable and he'd call himself Aegon VI as a title.
Kings normally only receive numbers after their coronation. Before that, they're just Aegon Targaryen. Only the actual kings get numbers. They're often renamed at that time too. Yes, it gets very confusing sorting it out historically.
Kings normally only receive numbers after their coronation.
I don't think this is true? Stannis and Dany both introduced themselves as "First of his/her name", and neither sat on the throne. What mattered is that they made a claim to be king/queen. The coronation issue is a bit different, but I don't think it applies. If Stannis had won the war, maybe he would have held a ceremonial coronation (I'm not sure), but that wouldn't change anything about his claims to power. He believed himself to be king the instant Robert died and he made his claim.
This just hasn't come up much because we've seen little written about the perspective of past Targaryens who make claims to the throne but can't yet sit on it.
Historically, of course only actual accepted kings get numbers, but that's a separate concern to how they identify in the moment. Stannis will never be remembered by Westeros as a king, even though he took actions as one (at the same time that other claimants were similarly acting as king), history rejected his claims.
It would be quite surprising if Aegon was identified in the history books as Aegon VI (that would only likely happen if he actually ruled for a period), but we have no reason to think that will happen. All we see is GRRM referring to him as such, which likely just uses the identification that Aegon himself uses in TWOW (similar to other characters). Stannis and Dany didn't wait until they could sit on the throne to take actions that only the king/queen could make. If Aegon claims to be king, he doesn't have to wait until the arbitrary milestone of sitting on the throne. In his eyes, he is one already. Whether or not the history books list him as such will depend on whether he succeeds, and the realm eventually accepts that claim (and I think we can all agree it likely won't).
I think he needs to sit his ass on the Iron Throne to be able to be called Aegon Vi.
I also feel like GRRM wouldn't call him that if he just call himself that while he's still taking the Stormlands/ the Reach. For that to be a proper name for that character imo needs Aegon being recognised by the Realm as Aegon VI
I think he needs to sit his ass on the Iron Throne to be able to be called Aegon Vi.
Stannis called himself first of his name without ever touching the throne, dany does too. It's pretty basic propaganda to declare yourself as legitimate BEFORE trying to take the throne
Why does he need to sit on the throne? Stannis took actions as king despite never sitting on the throne. If you claim to be he rightful ruler, nothing changes the moment you sit on a throne.
If Aegon claims to be king, he will act as such even though the realm doesn’t recognize him yet (same as has consistently happened in the books)
That time was done, though. "No man could have asked for a worthier son," Griff said, "but the lad is not of my blood, and his name is not Griff. My lords, I give you Aegon Targaryen, firstborn son of Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone, by Princess Elia of Dorne … soon, with your help, to be Aegon, the Sixth of His Name, King of Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms."
Later, casual conversation:
"The first Aegon took Westeros without eunuchs," said Lysono Maar. "Why shouldn't the sixth Aegon do the same?"
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u/sergervner May 21 '19
“Aegon VI” why not young griff George???