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She's so interesting because of the ambiguity of her relationships with others, for me - all the things we never got to know about her because that's not part of the maester's narrative: her and Rhaenys, her and Aegon, their parents, Orys (!!!), etc. There are so many ways to read her character, because in many ways, what is a character but their relationships? - was she a greedy, power-hungry bitch who only wanted her blood on the throne, who despised Rhaenys for marrying Aegon? Was she supposed to be the heir of Dragonstone? Was the whole marriage actually for love for all three, and they were having traditional Valyrian polyamory that the maesters just decided to ignore? Did she love Aenys, in her own tough-love way, or did she hate him for being the heir, or for being the last piece of her sister that was left in the world? What about her and Vhagar, the 'smallest' of the three dragons, their bond? Her and Maegor and her view of his actions and their possible conflicts, her view of 'necessary actions' for what she and her siblings built, with fire and (their own) blood? Rhaena and Visenya, how they are, in some ways, so similar, how this similarity translated to their relationship (or the whole idea to marry Rhaena and Maegor - to unite Rhaenys' and her's blood, or to bolster Maegor's claim, or to make Rhaena Queen, if one believes that Visenya was the initial heir of Dragonstone and did not want Rhaena to be passed over like she was in the past)? Blood magic? The tragedy of it all that she, the eldest, was the last to die, alone? And all the possible combinations and discussions and readings make her so damn interesting, and that is why I love her so much!
I stand by that wether or not the relationships w/her samplings were romantic or platonic or something else entirely, Rhaenys was the one that held them all together like glue, and the moment she was gone Aegon and Visenya's relationship just started to break and freeze, because they are so similar, and both of them kept mourning Rhaenys and what could've been if not for Dorne. And don't even get me started on Orys bc that is just as difficult to unpack
Obviously, a reading where she is a whole-out villain is just as possible and valid - I just find it quite boring not to flesh out her character and her relationships, though even then, there is still quite a lot to explore about her (megalomaniacs can be interesting, too, because if anything, they're human!).
The more I read fire and blood more I hate Visenya.
Before starting this book I really hoping to like her, but she's fucking awful with everyone, and to be honest she isn't what everyone says she is which makes me frustrated bc I was thinking that she was some kind of largetha but she's not.
I understand part of the hype, but I still don't know why people hate rhaenys for being a conquer if visenya is as much as she is, and she's not only a conqueror but probably a kinslayer too.
Visenya is that type of person who lived enough to become a villain, and what a dumb villain. Ok, she was smart when she spred to everyone in Westeros that Aenys was weak, but there are so many decisions that she made based only on what she knows about war. I was considering that maybe she understood propaganda just like rhaenys did, but I won't consider rumors a propaganda here, mainly bc she thought that fierce was the only way to get what she wanted and bc she didn't understand the smallfoks and the power that faith has.
She also supported Maegor, and I know that she was dead when he r*pe* his wives, but he was a weirdo even as a child and bc of him the house targeryen almost disappeared, so I'll consider here that she was a fucking old bitch who just wanted her blood on the throne.
Everyone reads her as some type of hero, but she's far from it. For me, she looks like some kind of megalomaniac who could do anything to get what she wanted.
And just to make one more thing clear, even catelyn stark killed an assassin, and she didn't have any training.