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Throughout A Game of Thrones, Vyserys Targaryen, the Beggar King, refers to Robert Baratheon as the "usurper". His sister, Daenerys II Targaryen, does the same. They are alone in this -- even after his death, all Westerosi and Essosi characters not related to the House of Targaryen refer to Robert as a king as a matter of course. To be fair, Robert seized the throne in a civil war against the legitimate heir of King Jahaerys II, Aerys II the Mad, slaying the Prince of Dragonstone at the Trident. Himself, his closest relation to the Iron Throne was by way of his grandmother Raelle Targaryen, younger sister to King Jahaerys II. After the Dance of the Dragons, the Iron Throne's succession was governed by what amounts to Semi-Salic or perhaps Quasi-Salic primogeniture, which means that in order for Robert to legally claim the throne, all other descendants of King Aegon V the Unlikely would have to die. That includes Aerys, Rhaegar, Aegon, Vyserys, Rhaenys and Rhaella (in this order -- assuming Aegon V's third son died without issue).
Nevertheless, Robert sat the Iron Throne and ruled for some ... 15 years or so. During this time, with the exception of Balon Greyjoy's futile rebellion and his final days with the beginning of the War of the Four-and-a-half-Kings, royal authority and royal writ was recognised and executed throughout the Realm.
Clearly then Robert executed royal authority. Clearly also he had no right to the throne. Can he then be called a king?
A look at real world history might be in order. After all, Westeros is based on late mediaeval Europe. There is one particular situation which might be of interest. Like Robert's rebellion, it concerns the deposition of an established, long-reigning dynasty with divine / magical legitimation on non-dynastic grounds: that of the Merovingian kings of Francia by their Carolingian Majordomus, Pepin the Short, grandfather to Charlemagne. Like the Targaryens, the Merovingians had been great rulers of a great realm who had towards the end been bereft of actual power -- though it took many decades of ruthless Carolingian intrigue against them, whereas the Targaryens lost their power mostly due to the madness of King Aerys II. Like the Targaryens, Merovingians were instantly recognisable -- the former by their High Valyrian features of silver hair and purple eyes, preserved through sacred marriages, the latter by their long hair. Childeric III's hair reached his waist and was much renowned, that of his eldest son was even longer. In a society where most men wore their hair short, this long hair was considered a sign of royal authority, even sacerdotical authority. The Merovingians were said to descend from Wotan, and their deposition was symbolised by shearing their hair.
How were the Merovingians deposed? Over decades, actual power had been with the mayors of the palace (of Austrasia and Neustria, respectively), an office hereditary in the Carolingian dynasty. They controlled all land, the palace and the palace guard, the levies, and all the realm. Indeed, later historiographers regarded the Merovingian kings as "do-nothings" for their lack of power. At last, Pepin the Short, mayor of the palace of Neustria to Childeric III, asked beleaguered Pope Stephen II (III, depending on whom you ask) a simple question:
In regard to the kings of the Franks who no longer possess the royal power: is this state of things proper?
The Pope, desperate for Frankish protection from the Lombards, replied: no, this state is not proper. De facto political power is more important than de jure power. This state of affairs remained the guideline of constitutional and international law from that point until about 1945, when the Right of Conquest was declared null and void to prevent new wars of conquest.
Let us return to Westeros. Robert holds power, but not legitimacy. Nevertheless, force of arms and political power make him a rightful king. By the same argument, of course, Jaime's perfect little children are legitimate, since they are protected by force of arms.
Which brings us back to the topic of glorious wincest.
War ... war never changes.
~sumenya (https://www.deviantart.com/sumenya) is evil.
1. If you got offered a free holiday to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Venice :)
2. Coffee or tea? What kind?
Water, sparkling.
3. What's your favourite BioWare romance?
BethanyEither FemShep x Garrus Vakarian or Male!Inquisitor x Ashara Zavros
4. Which historical event would you like to witness?
The Holocene Uh, the first mission of Francis Xavier to Japan or Gutenberg's printing press.
5. Robots: cute or scary? (Or something else? All robot opinions welcome.)
Depends on the robot, I guess? They range from cute to uncanny to industrial.
6. Which Mass Effect 3 ending do you prefer?
Destroy. Contr
Qual honor di te fia degno ...
Here's some baseless speculation on the next Mass Effect (which, we know, won't be called that way).
Setting. Prequel, sidequel or sequel? All three have their own problems. They're largest in a direct sequel: no matter one's personal opinion of the endings of Mass Effect 3, all of them have a tremendous impact on Earth, humanity and the galaxy as a whole. The differences between them are so vast that accounting for all possibilities would be a considerable effort for Bioware, and of course directly invalidate the Refusal ending (your Shepard refused to fire the Crucible? Tough job! Your game's going to be spent on the run from the Reapers a
Not-tagged not-fill
I was not-tagged by kamiiyu (https://www.deviantart.com/kamiiyu) -- won't tag anyone else, naturally, because that's always annoying. Leave me to my social apathy, dammit.
Rules~
1) Write down every letter in your first name
2) Write down a song that pops into your head beginning with each letter.
3) Count the number of letters and TAG that many people. (if you want)
B -- Bella figlia d'amore (from Rigoletto, Giuseppe Verdi)
E -- Empio diro tu sei! (from Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Georg Friedrich Händel)
N -- Nothung, Nothung, neidliches Schwert! (from Siegfried, Richard Wagner)
That's a bit little, innit? I don't know any songs that begin with a hyphen, so here
Questo e un nodo avvilupatto
REALISING that this journal has been sorely ignored,
RECOGNISING that it would be beneficial for the informational value of this site to update it,
DETERMINED to break with past habits and not neglect my online presence,
I am RESOLVED to state and declare to all and singular to whom these letters shall come the following:
Mass Effect is amazing. No, like, seriously. I spent some seven days doing virtually nothing else but play Mass Effect.
With that out of the way, there's some new work coming up any time between a few days and three months. Primarily I'm thinking of the next chapter of The Flight of the Eagle, featuring a dinner party a
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Just now reading through this - I've always been rather slow!
Anyway, for what it's worth, the Baratheons are at least OF Royal descent, via the female line, from the Storm Kings of House Durrandon. ('Course, their status as Royalty would depend on if Semi-Salic law applied pre-Conquest, and even then they'd only have jurisdiction over the Stormlands, strictly speaking...)
Musings aside: go Dragonstone! Remove "sin"cest!
Anyway, for what it's worth, the Baratheons are at least OF Royal descent, via the female line, from the Storm Kings of House Durrandon. ('Course, their status as Royalty would depend on if Semi-Salic law applied pre-Conquest, and even then they'd only have jurisdiction over the Stormlands, strictly speaking...)
Musings aside: go Dragonstone! Remove "sin"cest!