Crackpot theory: Aegon's true parentage

[Boaz]

Rereading Quentyn's attempt to tame a dragon and then BFS's subsequent chapter, I find that Quentyn's death is ambiguous if you want to see it that way. There are probably a number of clues that I'm not seeing, but here's what I do see.

Rhaegal and Viserion have a taste for sheep, but not humans. Viserion immediately flames a sheep put out for him. Viserion only flames one of the Windblown mercenaries after being attacked. The victim dies immediately. Viserion responds to Quentyn calling his name. Viserion seems to respect the whip. Then Rhaegal sneaks up behind Quentyn. Quentyn feels a blast of heat and sees the whip on fire and then his hand... and screams. When the guards show up, Arch is cradling Quentyn's burnt body. Arch's hands are burnt. Gerris is standing over them with sword drawn. He surrenders to the guards. Missandei stays with Quentyn doing what she can to ease his suffering. She hears him mutter a bit. After three days, Quentyn dies. Missandei claims his corpse is smiling now that he's at peace. Barristan looks at the corpse and does not recognize him because all of his skin is gone. Rhaegal has destroyed one pyramid and taken up residence in another and is terrorizing the city. Viserion has only been seen flying over the hills on the horizon. Barristan questions Arch and Gerris. They exchange a look. They sum it up quickly. They claim the Windblown betrayed them and fled. They claim Arch's hands are burnt from beating out the flames on Quentyn.

Pros for Quentyn's death:
His whole body was burning at the end of his POV.
He was in the crossfire of dragon breath.
His friends are witnesses.
There is a corpse.
He does not have another POV.
Fans don't like Quentyn... nobody in the books like Quentyn.
We are supposed to assume he's dead.

Pros for Quentyn's survival:
The mercenary who was blasted by Viserion died instantly, yet Quentyn lived three days.
Barristan could not identify him.
The dragons seemed genuinely interested in eating sheep. The only reason Viserion attacked the mercenary is because it shot him.
The dragons seemed to respond with recognition of their names and the whip.
There was no report of the rest of the mercenaries running into any other guards during their escape.
Arch's hands were burnt, but not Gerris'. Why?
Arch and Gerris seem to check with each other and cover for each other during the interrogation.
Quentyn fixed his attention upon Viserion and Viserion is not in the city.
Viserion's flight pattern indicates he's searching/hunting.

Again, I don't know if I am reading details into nothing or if I'm missing the crucial details.

 

[svalbard]

Thankfully Quentyn is dead and we get the birds eye view from his POV. I think that whole story line was ill concieved by Martin and to bring back Quentyn would be a waste of precious writing time.

On Aegon is it a possibility he is the real deal. From Connington's POV you get the impression that he believes Aegon to be true born. Dany has lost Dorne because of Quentyn which could allow Aegon claim a powerful ally.

 

[Boaz]

I do not doubt Connington and Aegon both believe Aegon is Rhaegar's son. It is just that Aegon was given to Connington by Illyrio. The Illyrio/Varys alliance is too clever, too rich, too interested, and too scheming to take their stated agenda at face value.

 

[Judderman]

The Quentyn storyline seemed a bit of an unnecessary one thrown in to the mix to me. As I recall his were some of the least interesting chapters, and was an unnecessary subplot. To some extent Young Griff/Aegon's too but at least that added to the background mystery and the hard to predict element of the ongoing story.

I think George likes to leave some uncertainty on whether some a characters are really dead or not. Another way to create discussion.

I think Quentyn has died... but this point Boaz makes is key: "Arch's hands were burnt, but not Gerris'. Why? "

At least it would be key if Quentyn and Arch had some resemblance. But Arch is meant to be gigantic. So I don't see an impersonation going well.

 

[Boaz]

I get the impression Gerris is significantly bigger then Quentyn and Arch is significantly larger than Gerris. No impersonations. Just like GRRM throws in extra information that might or might not be significant, Quentyn's entire POV semms boring and irrelevant... but mayhaps not. If Quentyn somehow escaped with Viserion, he's only one of two dragon riders in the world... and his significance is right there with Dany and it puts him in the topic of the Dragon has three heads, TPTWP, and the Game of Thrones.

 

[Narkalui]

It makes no sense for Quentyn to take his own death. What purpose can it possibly serve?

Aegon. I firmly believe he truly is Aegon Targaryen. Just not the son of Rheagar. I subscribe to The Brightflame Theory in that he is a descendant of Aerion Brightflame, but my version goes like this: Prince Maegor Targaryen, trueborn son of the Brightflame, grew up in the court of his uncle Aegon V (fourth son of King Maekar). As an older child or teenager he came to realise that as the only trueborn son of the second son of Maekar, the throne was rightfully his and so he grew bitter, resentful and jealous.

As a young adult or older teenager I think he escaped to Essos after despairing of finding any support amongst the Lords of Westeros. And I believe that in Essos he was found by agents of the Golden Company who kept him alive for the time being, a bit like Illyrio keeping Viserys in Pentos.

When Maelys The Monstrous was killed by BFS in the Stepstones, the Blackfyres had no male heirs left so they married the female Blackfyre heir to Maegor (I think that there were elements inside the Golden Company who knew that Maelys would fail, hence why Maelys had to kill his own kinsman for control of the company and thus why they kept Maegor secret and safe). uncle

I think that Aegon is either a son or grandson from this marriage and I think that Varys is a Blackfyre uncle. But most importantly, because Aegon is the heir of the second son of Maekar, his claim is far stronger than anyone else's...

 

[Boaz]

I have TWOIAF and FAB, but I don't know the Targ dynasty. So, okay.