King Maekar And His Cupbearer Vaella Targaryen, Daughter Of Daeron

King Maekar and his cupbearer Vaella Targaryen, daughter of Daeron

art by @vazdelart, commissioned by me

“Emme, stop commissioning Vaella art” the crowd begs. “I can’t :(((” I reply while holding out a large wad of money to all my favorite artists.

I’ve been wanting a Vaella art featuring Maekar desperately for the past few months. The reason for this is that Rhaenyra was a cupbearer and in the southern part of Westeros, and especially in King’s Landing, the role of cupbearer is a very prestigious title for a young person to have and is often an indicator of someone being the heir to the throne. While Vaella’s claim was dismissed at the Great Council, I find no reason to believe that as long as Daeron lived, her role as his only child would not have been taken seriously and her education would not have been a priority nor that her prestige as the only child of the heir of the Iron Throne would not have been respected. That’s why I see her as Maekar’s cupbearer versus Duncan the Small, who was around the same age as her. Besides, I just think it’s sweet that Maekar would want to have her around as much as possible and hopefully have some control in her upbringing while Daeron, although I believe based on what we know about it his character that he must have loved Vaella deeply, was often not in a state to be a good father.

This is my second time commissioning Vaz and I love their work, so I would like to take a moment to point out some of the details that were worked in. I think they deserved to be appreciated. I didn’t ask for the pockmarks on Maekar’s face, she thought of it on her own and I’m so glad because I haven’t really seen any Maekar art where he has them, it adds a level of accuracy I think. I was so happy with the idea and how it came out. I wanted Maekar dressed mostly in black, sort of to show how he was a serious/no nonsense person and as a nod to his status as widower (I know we know nothing about him and Dyanna’s relationship but I like to think he never got over it, a lot like Queen Victoria), but also just because of it being his house colors. I think he looks regal but understated. Vaella, however, is all decked out. In my eyes, she loves pink. The excessive and showy fashion is meant to be courtesy of Daeron. I headcanon that he loves her so much but is too scared to get close to her because he thinks he will somehow negatively impact her, but that she adores him. The only way he feels that he can show his love and relieve his guilt is to spoil her with whatever will make her happy. And she loves dresses, he loves dressing her up and seeing her squeal in excitement when they’re fitting her for a new outfit. She does a pink strip in her hair, that’s supposed to be a nod to her mother, Kiera of Tyrosh. When this got posted to Reddit, someone was complaining that people (myself included) keep putting colored strips in characters hair when it’s not canon to their appearance, which I thought was really funny because Vaella has no canon appearance and the pink strip is as canon as her being bald. I just went with the sandy colored hair like Daeron’s because Kiera also doesn’t have a canon hair color. And in Tyrosh, they love to color their hair bright colors, so I thought Vaella would be a prime candidate to have a color strip in her hair.

This is mostly irrelevant but I wanted to yap about what I think Daeron’s intentions were for Vaella and kind of compare that to Aemon the Pale Prince. First off, it’s never stated in Fire and Blood that Aemon intended on Rhaenys being his heir, so it’s unlikely that Blood and Fire and will say anything about Daeron picking an heir, especially since we can infer that Daeron is a much less politically savvy person than Aemon. That said, Aemon is married to his wife Jocelyn for many many years and Rhaenys is their only child. He never tries to acquire a new wife (although I will say that I think people overestimate how easy/common it was in real history and in Westeros history to just set aside a wife, especially one you already have a child with. Henry VIII is not the standard) and never issues any complaints about Rhaenys. Jaehaerys only settles the issue about Baelon being next in line after Aemon dies, which I like to think is because if Aemon was alive he would oppose that and simply undo that once he became King. I think Daeron is similar in his love for his daughter and lack of concern about having a son. Although we have no information on it so it’s just a guess, I don’t think his love for Kiera was remotely to the caliber of Aemon and Jocelyn’s, so I don’t think the idea of having a new wife would bother him as much as it would Aemon. I don’t think Daeron ever wanted to be King nor ever saw that for himself, but I do think he assumed that Vaella would succeed him and that he would have wanted every opportunity in the world for her. I’m not sure the matter of succession was ever brought up by Maekar to Daeron. However, I will say that Daeron is not a very mentally well person and most likely would be easily swayed, so I’m not sure he’d hold up as well as Aemon if people were pressuring him to name a boy heir or to have a son. I think he’d want something for Vaella in his heart, but could be easily convinced that her being Queen would not be good for her. Then when he died (which it’s my headcanon that while he was dying for quite some time, he gave up fighting the disease entirely once he realized that Vaella was old enough to fend for herself, and that she was the only reason he was fighting it in the first place instead of not bothering to get up in the morning, seeing as his dragon dreams left him in such a deep state of depression). It was only when Daeron died that Maekar very quickly made Aerion heir, in fear that a female ruler would could strife. Kiera, I believe, was the one person to speak for Vaella at the Council, just as I imagine that Daenora was the one to speak for Maegor.

I do recommend commissioning anything you want to see even if it’s just for you and you think no one else will like it, because it’s so fun and it feels like you’re a King in the Renaissance and are a patron of the Arra. You can literally see anything you want and you don’t have to use AI slop to do it!!!! In the time of AI, it’s more important than ever to support artists. And I will never stop because it is so rewarding. I recommended @vazdelart in particular because they work really fast and are accommodating and they are really good at drawing old men; I love it. And you may be surprised about how many people will enjoy the art, because this piece got 1400 likes on Twitter. So it’s really fun. I can’t thank the artist enough.