[Spoilers Extended] Giving the Aegons an “Un”-tag
One of my favorite little world-building things in the books are the various regnal nicknames given to the various monarchs. In particular, I like the trend started by Aegon the Uncrowned of giving King Aegons an “Un”-tag. It’s a fun way to frame each Aegon as somehow missing a piece that prevents them from being Aegon the Dragon. Just for fun, I designated each major Aegon Targaryen such a title. Feel free to spitball ideas
Aegon “the Uncrowned” (Canonical) - A dashing and martial king reminiscent of Aegon the Conqueror. It’s just… he gets eaten by the Conqueror’s Dragon.
Aegon II “the Unbroken” - He’s known as “the Elder” but that sucks balls. I decided to go with the Unbroken as a semi-ironic epithet. Though he was crippled following the Battle of Rook’s Rest, he is not broken by Rhaenyra, surviving the collapse at King’s Landing and eventually getting to feed his half-sister to his dragon.
Aegon III “the Unsmiling” - For a fairly unremarkable king (to historians) he has a ton of nicknames. Dragonbane is certainly cool, but doesn’t fit the vibe. He’s more of a deadbeat than a dragon “bane.” He’s also known as “the Unlucky,” which certainly makes sense, or “the Unhappy”which is quite underwhelming. I decided to go with the Unsmiling since that’s what’s unique about him.
Aegon IV “the Unworthy” (Canonical) - Yeahhh.
Aegon V “the Unlikely” (Canonical) - Reflects the way he came to be king. Rather than rising up and taking the throne like Aegon I, kingship falls into his lap, possibly with help. I would *speculate* that King Egg’s biggest weakness is a related issue. He struggles to kill the boy and let the man be born. Unlike his namesake, he can’t fully translate his vision into action. He’s a steady hand and he mostly has a good head on his shoulders, but he doesn’t accomplish all that much lasting change because he can’t wrangle his family and secure those alliances. At Summerhall, he tries to retrieve that missing piece and become the House of the Dragon again, with fatal consequences. He’s a foil to his cupbearer Tywin Lannister, an expert conservative political strongman who has a stranglehold on House Lannister. He is also responsible for undoing Egg’s reforms, although unlike Aegon, Tywin is killed by his family rather than the other way around. He’s also a foil to Jon Snow, another idealistic Targaryen who has leadership fall into his lap, with external scheming involved. He is idealistic, level-headed, and loses the political game because of mistakes made in furthering his ambitions.
Aegon VI “the Unready” - Another dashing Aegon-like, but this time I think he’ll get his crown. He has all the winds at his back, except for the fact that the Dragon Queen is going to arrive at King’s Landing sooner than he would probably like.