LogFAQs > #922485444

[Succession Stuff]

I think it's Gendry but it requires a few things that I'm not 100% sure on and don't feel like confirming, especially book v show continuity adding to it.

The Baratheon claim was "officially" justified/rooted in Targaryen ancestry. Jon Arryn basically was like "yo there was a Targ/Baratheon marriage like three generations back so with Aerys/Rhaegar/Viserys/Dany all dead/exiled technically Robert is next-in-line!"

Obviously that was just a paper-thin rationale to provide a veneer of legitimacy beyond right of conquest (which is weird because obviously that flies in Westeros since it's how the Targs took over in the first place) but officially/legally Robert's reign was framed as descended from the Targaryen line, just a different branch than that of Aerys II... which after his death was the next closest.

Of course, the War of Five Kings then went and extinguished the Baratheon line so "whoops." At that point I genuinely don't know who the rightful heir would have been. I'd have to look up a Targ family tree or something. Could be some dude in Dorne for all we know.

However, when Dany legitimized Gendry, the Baratheon line rose from the dead so I think it would fall back to him. Of course, the sticking point would be Dany herself. She was recognized as the rightful queen by like... most of the realm at that point. But beyond that, Gendry was at the ~council~ that picked Bran, so clearly the rest of Westeros was rolling with him being legitimized and the Lord of Storm's End... ad so theoretically I think his claim to the Iron Throne via Robert (via Targs) was back in play... just no one cared at that point so Bran it was.

tl;dr: Remember that Robert's rule was officially derived from the Targ line. I think the official line of succession went something like:

Aerys II -> Rhaegar -> Jon -> Aegon -> Viscerys -> Dany* -> Robert -> Gendry** -> Stannis -> Shireen* -> Renly -> ???

*I think the Targs were unique compared to the Westeros in deprioritizing female claims so it's possible that any female heirs would be moved to the back of the line, but I'm too lazy to double-check.

**Once legitimized; Also Joffrey/Myrcella/Tommen would be here under the fiction they were Robert's trueborn children. After a legitimized Gendry though I believe, nevermind they were all dead by the time that happened.
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