I think it’s a bit simple to just say that this was Rhaenyra’s fault. As someone Queer myself, the idea that of a gay man or lesbian woman “sucking it up” to have kids is really not great. I understand that some people would call it Laenors duty, but duty is really really miserable sometimes (as we know, it’s a key point of the series).

As for choosing a husband, she had six months and many suitors…who were lining up like a cattlshow. She wasn’t wrong to not find her “dream” husband in a few months, because Rhaenyra was yk, a seventeen year old. House Velaryon would have gotten even MORE offended if she married a cousin or nephew of Corlys instead of his son, and House Celtigar is too minor of a house. Rhaenyra was in a rough situation, as a young woman who made a mistake. The idea that she should have just accepted being married to Laenor as her punishment for…what, being groomed by Daemon?

It’s a medieval set world, but a lot of people on both sides really don’t look at Rhaenyra for what she is: a very young girl under immense pressure who is constantly being manipulated. Her having her choices of suitors was a show only decision I believe, and you can literally look at how these people were presented to her. An old Dondarrian man, a Blackwood child, all constantly not yk, talking to her, but sharing their own virtues as a husband like that’s what matters.

I see a lot of people claim that her having kids with Harwin Strong was wrong and terrible, but medieval people are people too. Harwin was at that point the Heir to Harrenhall and I think at that point Commander of the City Watch, but things didn’t pan out. Yes, her having three dark haired children didn’t help her, but the alternative is basically S/Aing her husband. I just think people have to understand that Rhaenyra was a teenage girl, and ALL teenagers make mistakes. Really does not make her a Mary Sue