The saddest love story in Westeros
is a one-shot A Song of Ice and Fire fanfic that tells the story of the relationship between Prince Aemon "the Dragonknight" Targaryen and his sister Naerys.
Tropes that appear in this fanfic:
- An Arm and a Leg: Aemon severed Lord Blackmont's arm in the ambush where King Daeron I was killed.
- Bearer of Bad News: Daeron has to tell his mother that his uncle Aemon was killed.
- Big Bad: Aegon Targaryen, later King Aegon IV the Unworthy, is the central antagonist.
- Book Ends: The story begins and ends with an Arranged Marriage. Unlike his grandfather Viserys II forcing his eldest son and daughter to marry, Daeron II asks his sister Daenerys who she wants to marry between her cousin Daemon Blackfyre or Maron Martell. Daenerys chooses the latter.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Naerys eventually snaps and calls his father out for denying Aemon and Naerys's love and forcing her to marry Aegon, saying that Aegon already has many loves while Aemon and Naerys only have each other.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Naerys is troubled at the mere idea that Aemon would marry another woman, but she chastises herself that she has no right to be jealous after she became the wife of another man (Aegon).
- Crisis of Faith:
- Aemon used to go to the sept every day to pray that he and Naerys can marry. He stopped going since Aegon and Naerys married.
- Naerys prays to the Warrior every day that Aemon's remembered for the good man and knight that he was. She prays that nobody believes the lies about them. But she pointed out that she prayed when she was a girl that they'd be allowed to be together one day as husband and wife, happy, with a family of their own. It never came to pass, and she learned then that the Gods don't answer her prayers.
- Despair Event Horizon: Naerys crosses it after Aemon's death, with Daeron describing it as the light going out of her eyes. Not helped that Aegon slanders her and Aemon by insinuating they had an affair.
- Double Standard: Lampshaded by Naerys. Aegon had paraded his mistresses through the Red Keep for years and nobody had ever spoken an ill word about it. Now one knight from a lowly house makes one accusation against her and the entire court gives her the cold shoulder.
- Everyone Can See It: Everyone in Westeros except Viserys (at first) knows that Aemon and Naerys love each other but can't act on it due to their respective duties as Kingsguard and Queen, respectively.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Several of the gossipers after Aegon and Naerys married were appalled at how much Aegon rubbed it in Aemon's face.
- When Aemon died, it was the smallfolk who insisted on a funeral and that questioning his honor made Aegon's sycophants uneasy.
- Evil Is Petty: The night after Aemon proclaimed Naerys to be Queen of Love and Beauty after winning the tourney, Aegon raped Naerys to ruin her happiness. Naerys wouldn't give him the satisfaction and endured it.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. Aemon had been supplying Naerys with moon tea after Daenerys' birth. The last time she became pregnant, she chose not to drink the moon tea.
- Hate Sink: Aegon Targaryen, later King Aegon IV "The Unworthy", was a man ruled only by his insatiable appetites. Marrying his sister Naerys on their father Viserys' orders, Aegon attempted to force their brother Aemon, who loved Naerys, to participate in the bedding ceremony; Naerys' cries nearly prompted Aemon to draw his sword on Aegon in his anger before being talked down by their uncle King Aegon III. Many would agree that Aegon's actions were a very low blow. Throughout their marriage, Aegon routinely humiliated Naerys by parading his mistresses in front of her and raped her almost every night despite her protestations and ill health. After Aegon became King many years later, he hired a man named Ser Morgil Hastwyck to spread rumors that Naerys and Aemon were having an affair, leaving Ser Morgil to die when Aemon challenged and killed him. Aemon is killed by two men trying to avenge their brother's death at King Aegon's hands, but Aegon showed no respect for his brother's loss and only agreed to a funeral because of public outcry; this is when the epitaph "the Unworthy" is attached to Aegon. Naerys' friend Lyssa showed up at the capital to pay her respects, only to leave when Aegon showed sexual interest in her barely pubescent daughter. Naerys reveals that the night after Aemon won a tournament and honored Naerys, Aegon raped her that night just to make her feel bad.
- The Hero Dies: Both Aemon & Naerys die.
- History Repeats: Inverted; Maester Aemon wasn't the first Targaryen to contemplate taking the black.
- I Gave My Word: Why Aemon had never allowed Aegon to die, no matter how unworthy he was.
- I Have No Son!: Inverted. Aemon and Naerys no longer regarded Viserys as their father after he prohibited a marriage between them. Aemon in particular never spoke to his father again after that day.Naerys: My father is dead to me. I'm a married woman. I only take commands from my King, my husband and the King's hand. If the Hand wishes to speak to me about matters of state I'll be in my chambers. If my father wishes to speak to me he can do so in the seven hells.
- I Shall Taunt You: When Aegon and Naerys were married, Aegon rubbed the fact that he was Naerys' husband in Aemon's face and tried to make him participate in the bedding ceremony when Aemon tried to leave. Aemon snapped and almost drew his sword on his brother before King Aegon III allowed him to leave.
- Kick the Dog: Everything that Aegon IV does.
- Let Them Die Happy: Invoked with King Daeron deciding that he will tell Daemon that he has commanded that Daenerys marry Maron Martell so that Daemon will not resent Daenerys.
- Loved by All: Aemon was greatly mourned from Dorne to the Wall and it was the people who insisted on a funeral. The small folk started calling Aegon IV "Aegon the Unworthy" when Aegon spoke ill of Aemon after his death.
- Marital Rape License: Aegon gave Narys a "rough night" nearly every single night.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": At Aegon and Naerys' wedding, everyone gasped when Aemon almost drew his sword on Aegon.
- Men Don't Cry: Aemon feels ashamed not only for weeping during Naerys's marriage but also for almost drawing his sword on Aegon after the latter taunted him.Viserys: He wouldn't want anyone to see him this way. Not after - It's important to him that people not think he's weak.Naerys: I've told him that it took bravery to do what he did, to stand there and take all the abuse Aegon threw at him. It took a real man to do that, father. But he thinks drawing his sword made him weak. Aegon broke something in him that day, something that I'll never be able to fix.
- Moment of Weakness: Aemon considers his attempt to draw his sword on Aegon to be this and is ashamed of it for the rest of his life.
- Mutual Kill: Aemon and Manfred Toyne killed each other.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Viserys eventually regrets denying Aemon and Naerys to marry and apologizes to Naerys that he's been blinded by his own failed marriage that he didn't see how much they love each other.
- The Needs of the Many: Daeron offers his sister Daenerys the choice of marrying her love Daemon Blackfyre, but she chooses Maron Martell to unite Westeros under one ruler.Daeron: If you choose Daemon I will accept that. There will be no consequences from me. I will wish you many strong sons and peace. It's up to you to decide sister. I won't have you suffer the way mother did.Daenerys: I love Daemon brother, but first and foremost I am a Targaryen. The kingdom means more to me than my feelings. Our mother loved our uncle Aemon but she married father because it was what the family required of her. She was unhappy and made to suffer but she did her part for the family. I don't think I'll be nearly as unhappy in Dorne. Command me and I'll do my part to unite the Seven Kingdoms.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: People love Aemon and start calling him Dragonknight after he killed the knight that Aegon used to slander Naerys. When Aegon attempts to claim that Daeron is Aemon and Naerys's illegitimate son, most people refuse to believe it and start calling Aegon the Unworthy for his pettiness.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with King Aegon III and Prince Aegon (later King Aegon IV).
- Parental Substitute: Aemon for Daeron.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Aemon's challenge to Ser Morgil: "Recant your slanders now Ser, or meet the Gods and explain yourself to them."
- The Quiet One: Aemon is a man of few words, but when he speaks, everyone listens. So is King Aegon III.
- Relative Button: Aemon already tried to compose himself when Aegon taunted him, but it's hearing Naerys' small cry that finally made Aemon snap and almost draw his sword on Aegon.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Aemon wanted to join the Night's Watch and leave King's Landing.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Aemon only loves Naerys. When he was offered to relieve his duty as a Kingsguard to marry King Daeron I's sister Princess Rhaena, he refused.
- Taking the Veil: Aemon becoming a Kingsguard. He had originally intended on joining the Night's Watch, but King Aegon III put his foot down; as far as King Aegon was concerned a Targaryen in that part of the world was useless and he was not going to have that.
- Time Skip: Several due to the episodic nature of the story, but the largest is between 161 AC (the death of Daeron I) and 175 AC (Aemon vs. Ser Morgil).
- Together in Death: Aemon and Naerys. When Naerys died, Daeron II vowed his father would not trouble them further and had Aemon and Naerys' ashes places in the same urn.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Years after disowning Viserys, Naerys accidentally calls him 'father' again due to her worry for Aemon's life when he's wounded in the Conquest of Dorne.
