Rhaewin - Blog Posts

labyrinth: one (preview)

a/n: daemon x rhaenyra x harwin

posting this little snippet because well.....I felt like it...the rest forthcoming this week 🔥

“It’s Laena.” Fresh wails sounded from the floor, Laenor’s fetal body bobbing with his sobs. “She’s dead.”

“How?” Harwin’s voice was taut, ready to defend at a moment’s notice. Rhaenyra shook her head to calm him, let him breathe. She wasn’t sure when it had happened—when she had learned to read his moods like they were her own, and he learned to read hers in return. Sometime around Luke’s birth probably, when she almost succumbed to the melancholia in the months after the delivery. He stayed with her almost round the clock, coming through the passageway in her chambers after her ladies and guard had bid her goodnight. He held her and whispered that everything would be okay. Even though they risked everything for those moments of comfort, for the joy in their sons eyes as they played with Laenor, for the family that would always be stained with his Strong blood, his Strong coloring.

That was why she refused to allow him to return to Harrenhal weeks ago, defying his father and refusing his birthright. Let them talk, she had said, they will whether we're together or not. Abandoning his family to be the lord of a half-destroyed keep while his father kept the king's council was not in his true interest. So he left King's Landing with young Joffrey under his protection while Rhaenyra and the rest flew on dragonback. He was devoted to her, and she trusted him. More than she could say for anyone else in her life.

He reached out to touch her face, drawing her attention back to him and away from the ugly shadows that followed them both.

“Childbirth,” she could barely say it. Her worst fear had come to fruition, not for her, but for her cousin. Her kin in more ways than one. 

Daemon’s wife. 

Daemon’s child within her. 

Daemon. 

Where was he? Mourning? Raging? Blaming himself? Probably a mix of all three if memory served her. She hadn’t seen him in years. Shortly after her wedding, he jumped into marriage with Laena and they rode off on dragonback to Essos. Last she had heard they were shacking up with a lord in Pentos, their two girls with them. While she’d seen Laena a few times at High Tide over the years, Daemon had always stayed behind. Hiding from his brother. Hiding from his duty. Hiding from her and those moments they’d shared when she was just a girl. When she swore he was going to do anything in his power to keep her by his side. 

But then he disappeared. 

A cough echoed off the stone walls. Her page stood at the door, kicking his feet, trying not to look at Laenor’s still shaking form. Rhaenyra nodded at Harwin, knowing her wishes would be followed. He bowed and crossed the short distance to her husband, hauling him up by the shirtsleeves.

“Come, my lord, let us go find Ser Qarl and maybe observe the boys and their swordplay.” Harwin supported Laenor as they left, his loud hiccups and sniffles reverberating long after their departure. 

Rhaenyra turned and smiled at her page, steeling herself for what was sure to be an omen for the coming days. 

“Your highness, the Blood Wyrm approaches.”

“ And I lost you (choose you). The one I was dancin' with....

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (maroon)...

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was (maroon).

And I wake with your memory over me. That's a real fucking legacy to leave.”

This song is SO Rhaenyra and Harwin.

for all my bi rhaenyra truthers 

Daemyra: sorry, just facts

I miss them...

YEAH WITH ALL THE CHAOS AND DRAMA, MENTALLY IM HERE.

I love them and i love this.

The Weirwood Files: Rhaewin (Rhaenyra x Harwin)

Subject: A defense of Harwin Strong and an analysis of his relationship with Rhaenyra.

I want my first real post to be a deep dive into the beautiful relationship that is Rhaenyra x Harwin, a relationship that team green considers shameful, while team black (mostly staunch daemyras), finds it shallow and boring. I believe both interpretations are incorrect, as even with their limited screen time together, Emma and Ryan managed to tell a beautiful love story, even in just the way they looked at one another. With a single look, so much was said without a word being spoken. 

One thing that Rhaewin has begun to get criticism for lately, is the idea that Harwin is no better than any other man in Rhaenyra’s life, that he too has groomed and taken advantage of her, that perhaps he is no “saint” as he seems to be treated by the fandom. 

The truth is, there is nothing within the canon to suggest this. The first moment we get between them is when we see Harwin giving Rhaenyra an encouraging look after she returns from killing the boar. Nothing here implies he is lusting after her. Instead, Harwin merely just stands out as being the only one at the hunt to look at her with admiration while everyone stares in confusion or judgment. 

The next two scenes we are given of them also definitely don’t have any hint of predatory behavior from Harwin. He runs into her after she snuck out with Daemon and presumably decides to keep her secret, and the one after that he carries her away out of the chaos during her wedding after being given permission by his father, the hand. 

There is no canon evidence to support Harwin groomed her. Grooming implies a pattern of behavior over time that we do not see from Harwin. He and Rhaenyra have no pre existing relationship before they conceive Jace, Harwin does not even put himself forward for her hand during her marriage tour. Harwin does not commit any predatory actions towards Rhaenyra. 

This quote by Sara Hess is the closest we have to an official canonical description of Harwin, and while granted, Hess has said her fair share of questionable things in the past, there is nothing in the canon that disputes what she said. 

“He’s one of the more unambiguous characters, he’s just a good dude. You don’t see him off doing morally questionable things, which almost everybody else is doing. They’re so flawed and human and messy. He was able to be a paragon of decency and generosity and handsome strength. He’s one of the guys you could just love and feel great about loving and then he’s ripped from you too soon, before he does anything that could fuck that up for you. He’s our perfect angel.”

With this settled, I want to move on to their actual love story. We know they did not have much time together before they conceived Jace, considering the timeline of events. What we can put together at least, is that Rhaenyra was in a vulnerable position with Laenor. After they tried several times to conceive and failed, she needed to secure her position quickly and found solace in Harwin, who proved himself to be one of the only trusted figures she had in court. 

The next time we see Rhaewin is after the time jump. They have already had two beautiful sons together and another has just been born. Despite this implied intimacy, they have to hide their affections, only able to give each other coy smiles and a playful line here and there. Harwin holds their newborn son and Rhaenyra looks at the sight with adoration, yet also a hint of sadness, as if she is thinking of a world where they could be open about their love. In the night, they are in each other’s arms and make sons, princes of the realm. Yet in the day, these stolen moments are all they can afford.

The next time we see Harwin, he points out Criston Cole’s lack of care in his son’s training. He attempts to teach Jace as distantly as he can, and it is very clear he is increasingly frustrated with only being able to go so far in his son’s teachings. In the end, Cole still provokes him, and Harwin unleashes his anger on him. All the pain and frustration of only being able to love Rhaenyra and their children from afar is let out in the form of this beatdown on Cole. 

It would not follow without consequence however. Harwin is ordered to leave his position as Commander of the City Watch and go back to Harrenhal, away from Rhaenyra, away from their sons. Ryan Corr does an amazing job in this scene and you can just feel his utter devotion when he says one of my favorite lines from the show “you have your honor, and I have mine”. 

In a world where conceiving bastards is considered sinful and shameful, Harwin sees their union as one of love and honor. His sons are not treacherous reminders of sin and lust, but worthy princes born of love.

Rhaenyra and Harwin’s final scene together is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the show. Rhaenyra is losing one of the only trusted figures she has in court, the man she sought comfort in and who fathered her three sons, and Harwin is losing everything that means the most to him. And once again, despite the privacy, despite the fact that this is their last moment together, they still cannot be open about their love. There is no final kiss goodbye, not even a hug. There is only a single look between them that says all we need to know, and a hopeful promise that Harwin will return. 

One of the most tragic things about this scene is that Jacaerys picks up on everything between them. He sees the looks shared between them, the desire for a hug or a kiss, he sees it all and he knows what it means. His mother and father have a love story that they can never tell anyone about, not even their own son. 

TL;DR: Rhaewin is a beautiful yet tragic twist on the knight and princess love story trope. Those that see this relationship as shameful have had their brains rotted by team discourse who buy into the “bastardphobia” present in universe (despite the fact that that is constantly criticized by the narrative itself), and wave it away as a “mistake”. There is nothing at all shameful about their relationship, and their sons were not made of sin, but of love. Rhaewin is also far from boring or shallow, to say this is to insult the work done by Emma and Ryan. There is a very beautiful, and rich love story between these two characters for those that have eyes to see it.

Me with rhaewin, they will always be canon to me, fuck daemyra and rhaenicent, y'all are nothing to me.

“they’re queerbait this, they’re not canon that” they’re whatever i want them to be on ao3 actually