Rhaegar leaving three kingsguard to guard his mistress and his bastard that's he's not even sure will survive over his 2 trueborn children and he believes Aegon to be ptwtp but knowingly endangers him
I’ve recently seen people on social media argue that Jon Snow would hate Lyanna and Rhaegar, especially Rhaegar, and honestly, I find that to be a pretty weak case of reader projection and fandom moral judgment.
First, we have to remember that Jon sees Ned Stark as his father. Ned is the man who raised him, gave him his name, and shaped him emotionally. In every meaningful sense, Ned is Jon’s father. What Jon has always longed for is not another father, but a mother. He wants to know who his mother was. Lyanna did not betray him in any way; she literally begged Ned to protect her son. Because of that, I find it almost impossible to believe Jon would hate her. His feelings would more likely be a mixture of grief, longing, tenderness, and pain over never getting to know her.
With Rhaegar, it is different. Jon’s opinion of him would depend heavily on what he is told about the circumstances between Rhaegar and Lyanna, especially whether Rhaegar raped or grievously wronged her, which, at this point, seems basically impossible. Even we as readers still do not fully understand Rhaegar. Whatever Howland Reed tells Jon about Lyanna’s final moments, or whatever Bran reveals through his visions, would likely shape Jon’s understanding.
The important distinction is between Jon rejecting Rhaegar as his father and Jon hating Rhaegar. The fandom often seems unable to separate those two things. Jon could very reasonably say, “Ned Stark is my father,” without that meaning, “I hate Rhaegar Targaryen and want nothing to do with him.” Jon is not Robert Baratheon. I think he would feel conflicted about Rhaegar until he learned more, and while I am not sure what his final opinion would be, outright hatred does not seem especially plausible to me.
So I wonder if the idea that Jon would hate Rhaegar is really just fandom projection, perhaps influenced by the current fandom phase of hatred toward Rhaegar and Lyanna as a pairing, rather than something thats from Jon’s character himself?
I mean, Rhaegar not explaining what he was doing with Lyanna is where their problems begin. I don’t understand how telling , even in minor detail, wouldn’t have been beneficial if he told a selected number of people when he returned to court. I know why George never tells us directly: prophecy, Lyanna, Rhaegar’s motives, and so on. But if Rhaegar did tell anyone, even just the minor details, it was probably Barristan, who says that Rhaegar “loved his Lady Lyanna” and also fought in Rhaegar’s army. Jaime is another possibility, since he had a conversation with Rhaegar. Either way, it seems very compelling and intriguing
telling a selected few and with incomplete info would have been one of Rhaegar's only smart decisions. It would not necessarily save him at the Trident, but it could preserve his reputation, protect Lyanna’s child, and stop the entire truth from depending on Ned Stark and Howland Reed alone.
Am I wrong here?
That he was still following the three heads of the dragon idea we get from the house of Undying specifically naming his children in reverse order of the conquerors death when he left the pregnant lyanna at the tower of joy because he seems to have abandoned his other 2 heads knowing the political consequences of abducting lyanna and didn't send them else where before doing something that reckless that leaves them at mercy of Aerys essentially political suicide in all forms?.