Is inbreeding good or bad?
In the view of the general public, couples in close-kin marriages are prone to giving birth to children with genetic defects, which is extremely unfavorable to good breeding and healthy offspring.
This is a scientific fact.
From the primitive era when humans were first born, the cruel natural environment had already eliminated the vast majority of genes responsible for dominant diseases.
After millions of years, by the time humanity developed relatively advanced civilizations, genetic diseases had mostly become recessive—only when both parents carry the same recessive disease gene does their child have roughly a one-in-four chance of suffering from a genetic illness.
Note carefully: it must be the same disease's recessive gene.
Blood relatives, because their genes originate from the same ancestor, are obviously more likely to carry similar recessive genes. Their children are therefore more prone to being born mentally impaired, or with deformities.
However, if close relatives continue reproducing for dozens, hundreds, even thousands of generations, all the recessive defective genes within that bloodline will eventually be exposed—and then, by discarding children who carry paired recessive defect genes, the remaining children will inevitably possess fewer recessive defects than the previous generation.
In other words, through a cruel system of elimination, close-kin reproduction helps reduce defective genes—a disguised form of genetic optimization.
Of course, genetic optimization has two sides. Besides reducing inferior genes, there is also the increase of superior genes—something more practically achieved through crossbreeding.
Here, however, we are only discussing the issue of "reducing inferior genes through close-kin reproduction."
To achieve genetic optimization via inbreeding requires at least dozens of generations of effort. If, midway, new bloodlines are introduced and bring in new defective genes, all previous efforts are rendered meaningless and the process must start over from the beginning.
Without a thousand years of direct-line blood-relative marriage, forget about any "noble bloodline" plan.
And the Great Heavenly Dynasty has never had an absolute thousand-year-old aristocratic house—one capable of refusing marriage alliances with the imperial family. Therefore, for the Huaxia people, close-kin marriage has always been a taboo that must be avoided.
Even looking across ten thousand years of Earth's history, only the ancient Egyptian pharaohs managed to accomplish this—yet they too eventually fell because of their inbreeding system, after "low-grade" mixed blood was introduced midway, forcing everything to start over again.
But continuously giving birth to monsters and weak-minded heirs, while being unable to maintain an increasingly collapsing dynastic rule—if their authority hadn't declined, would the "noble" pharaohs have married into other families?
In the end, the ancient pharaonic clans were nearly wiped out—perhaps not every individual died, but their dynasty and the system it established were completely eliminated.
Ancient European nobles also harbored ideas similar to those of the pharaohs, but unfortunately they fared even worse—for example, hemophilia, which caused the collapse of many European royal families.
The main issue was their inability to maintain strict direct-line reproduction; from time to time, fresh blood was introduced midway.
Yet what Earth's people could not accomplish, many families on the continent of Ice and Fire managed to achieve. They were the true royal bloodlines.
For example, House Targaryen.
In fact, there once existed a great inbreeding civilization on the continent of Essos—the ancient Valyrian Freehold. The Targaryens were merely one small branch of it.
Just how powerful was Valyrian blood?
Take a look at Daenerys Targaryen today, and you will understand.
Aside from the Valyrian remnants, the ducal houses of Westeros (former royal families, demoted after Aegon Targaryen's invasion and unification of the Eight Kingdoms) only practiced, at best, what could be called "secondary" inbreeding. They still married into other houses.
The reason this world could achieve "genetic optimization through inbreeding" was largely because its history was simply too ancient. Take the story's main family—the wolf of House Stark—as an example: they possess at least an eight-thousand-year family history.
House Frey of the Twins, the ones who staged the Red Wedding, had always been scorned by the upper nobility for their shallow foundations.
So just how much of a "nouveau riche" family were the Freys?
Well, they were merely a "measly" six-hundred-year-old marquis house—aside from money, they had nothing.
Uh, if a six-hundred-year-old aristocratic family were placed in the Great Heavenly Dynasty, then—
After saying all this, there is really only one point: Viserys's intention to climb into his own sister's bed, in the savage and fantastical world of Ice and Fire, counts as a crime—but not an ethical one.
House Targaryen had always upheld an ancient tradition: brother-sister unions.
For instance, Aegon, who founded the Targaryen dynasty, married two sisters.
Uh, yes—two of them: his elder sister Visenya, and his younger sister Rhaenys.
King's Landing is built upon three hills: Aegon's High Hill, Rhaenys's Hill, and Visenya's Hill, commemorating the dynasty's three founders.
In fact, Daenerys's parents—the "Mad King" Aerys and Queen Rhaella—were also brother and sister, and even her grandparents were siblings as well.
If Dany had been born ten years earlier—no, five years would have been enough—she would very likely have married her elder brother Rhaegar.
"And then?" Dany said calmly to Lillith. "Viserys is a bastard. I've known that for a long time."
Lillith gave her a strange look, unable to understand her calm indifference.
At the same time, seeing that she could not wound Dany with words, the anger in her heart surged even higher. She suddenly turned her head and pointed at Ser Jorah, who was watching her warily. "He slept with me too. Even though he didn't cry out your name, the way he looked at me… it was like he was looking through my skin and fucking your soul."
"No," the knight had been guarding against Lillith suddenly lashing out and hurting the "poor and frail" Dany, but he hadn't expected to be dragged into it himself. His face flushed red as his iron-gauntleted hands waved frantically. "You're slandering me. I didn't think that."
"I've seen countless men. You can't fool me," Lillith said with a contemptuous smile.
"Cough, cough. You're the Khaleesi now, not the top courtesan of a Lys pleasure house," Dany said awkwardly, immediately issuing a stern warning. "I'm sure Khal Jhaqo would not want to hear what you just said."
Dany had long known of Jorah Mormont's desire for her.
Mm—she'd known it even before transmigrating here, from Game of Thrones: when the Great Bear met Tyrion in a brothel, he was embracing a silver-haired, purple-eyed Volantene prostitute. That woman was even cosplaying the famed Queen of Meereen—Daenerys, two or three years in the future.
(PS: This book mainly follows A Song of Ice and Fire, with Game of Thrones also serving as an important reference. This down-on-his-luck author not only watched the TV series, but also read the books several times. However, the protagonist of this story has only seen the popular TV series, so future plot developments may surprise her.
Regarding the Great Bear visiting prostitutes—the TV series makes it more obvious. In A Song of Ice and Fire, this plot point is merely implied. In fact, many book scenes are handled through implication, while the TV adaptation spells them out clearly. This is not a change in plot, such as Renly and the Knight of Flowers' relationship.)
"Jhaqo?" Dany failed to intimidate her. Lillith's mouth twisted even more as she leaned close to Dany's ear and whispered in a voice only she could hear, "Do you think that's how I came to be with him?"
Dany's heart tightened. Had she become Helen of Troy?
"Could it be that he also truly loves me? Doesn't seem like it," she whispered back, not embarrassed in the slightest.
Lillith sneered. "Because he wants the same thing as I do—what a khal wants. In his eyes, you and Drogo's fine horses and khalasar tents are no different."
"Then aren't you not even as good as Drogo's tent?" Dany pushed her head away and directly dismissed her aloud. "Leave. I don't want to discuss these boring topics with you anymore."
"Fine, I'll go. Khal LS returns to Vaes Dothrak almost every year anyway. When the time comes, I hope that you—who wish to join the crones of the Dosh Khaleen—can still be as proud as you are now."
Lillith left in a huff.
Early the next morning, before dawn had fully broken, Jhaqo's khalasar also stepped into the chilly morning mist and slowly moved northward.
They had no choice but to leave. Not to mention drinking water and horse fodder—even firewood was gone. It had been gone for days.
The Red Waste was dry and scorching during the day, but at night the temperature dropped below ten degrees Celsius—a typical great Gobi climate.
Stepping out of the dim tent, Dany found the outside world frighteningly bright.
The slanted rising sun was like a furnace dripping molten gold, pouring blazing liquid fire across the land, scorching the ground until it cracked and lay hollow and barren.
The small camp was not quiet. The coughing of elderly people drifted from nearby grass shelters. A small group of children ignored the heat and ran about, laughing and playing in the open camp area. Farther away, women were tending to daily chores.
On the outskirts, more than a hundred horses with their saddles removed were grazing—if it could even be called grazing. They stomped the ground listlessly, wandering back and forth, occasionally letting out weak, dispirited neighs, as if complaining: this cursed place—why isn't there even a single blade of grass?
When they saw Dany appear, the maidservants immediately stood by with water, wine, melons, fruits, and roasted meat.
After wiping her face, Dany casually ate a little, then had Aggo and the others direct the khas to move back to their original grass-curtain palace location.
Though that place was also desolate, at least the nearby hills helped block the sun and sand-laden winds.
Qotho and Haggo remained in the tent, accompanying Drogo as he hovered on the brink of death. Dany gathered Aggo, Rakharo, Jhogo, Cohollo, and Ser Jorah together in the shade, sitting on the ground in a circle.
The first expanded political meeting was convened beneath a small earthen mound.
"Drogo's khalasar has dispersed," she said directly.
Jhogo replied as if it were only natural, "A khal who cannot ride has no right to be khal."
"The Dothraki follow only the strong," Ser Jorah said. "Princess, I'm very sorry. We truly couldn't keep them. Starting with Pono, Drogo's warriors left in large and small groups, day after day."
"Mhm. How many people and supplies do we still have?" Dany asked.
"Khaleesi, not a single member of your khas has left," Aggo said solemnly. "We are the Khaleesi's guards. We swore loyalty to you, not to the khal, so all of us remained."
Dany felt a surge of happiness. The Dothraki might be savage, but their integrity was far higher than that of many so-called civilized peoples—for example, the Westerosi, who treated sacred oaths like dog shit.
"And who else?" Dany asked lightly. "Our khas is fewer than a hundred people, yet when we moved the tents just now, I saw at least two hundred tribesfolk."
To any Daenerys, the Dothraki were her foundation. The horselords were loyal, brave, and straightforward—far more real, and far more trustworthy, than the people of her 'old country' thousands of miles away.
And in terms of identity, Dany was the khal's wife. She had long since changed her household registration to that of the horse people of the great Dothraki Sea.
That was why she referred to the Dothraki as "tribesfolk."
The others failed to notice such a subtle shift in mindset—or perhaps the horselords before her had always regarded her as one of their own.
Jhogo answered her, "The elders with limited mobility stayed behind, along with cowards, weaklings, and the sick. The departing new khalasars were unwilling to take them in."
...
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Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
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"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
(End Chapter)