Why did Rhaegar Targaryen leave Elia, No. 94 of Top 100 ASOIAF Characters 

Interesting theory but given the descriptions of Elia's personality, I doubt she'd be a co-conspirator, more like a damsel.

Whatever you're smoking, can I get some if it?

elia definitely knew because rhaegar told her about "the song of ice and fire". i forget which character had this vision about them discussing it. i think it was either dany having dragon dreams or bran with his greensight. edit: it was dany while she was in the house of the undying having all those visions.

Completely agree with you on George creating female characters that never get any development or use in the story. We didn't even know who Ned's mother was until way down the line! But to be fair, a lot of the "youngest" Targaryen women were a fair bit older than Elia and Jaime's generation - otherwise Rhaegar could've married one of them. Looking at the wiki, Aerys and Rhaella seem to not have any other siblings, and Jaehaerys and Shaera had only one sister, Rhaelle, who married a Baratheon (Robert's grandparents). They also had two brothers, Duncan, who died childless at Summerhall, and Daeron, who also died childless years earlier. Prior to that, Aegon V had one niece, Vaella, who was probably even older than her cousin Jaehaerys, and was supposedly "weak-minded". And Aegon V also had two younger sisters, Daella and Rhae, whose fates we admitedly don't hear much about, but it's theorised that one of them married into the Tarths and is Brienne's (great) grandmother. But at this point we're talking about women who would have been elderly by the time of Rhaegar, Jaime, etc. If they were married off to weaker families, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren wouldn't be the great matches that Tywin and co. were hoping for. It is also very likely that these women would've been at Summerhall, as we hear much of the family was there even if most of them aren't specified by name. Aelora was Aegon V's older cousin and died quite young, also childless. Calla was Daemon Blackfyre's daughter, who would've lived closer to House of the Dragon's time than to ASOIAF's. Plus, her family ran away to Essos as traitors to the crown, so they wouldn't have been considered good matches for powerful Westerosi families. So, to be fair to George, most of these characters are accounted for, and it can be assumed that any suriviving Targaryens would've died at Summerhall. There really just weren't any Targaryen women of marrying age around then.

@@g_wyldejust now seeing this thanks for clarifying because the websites literally just show that name and them appearing in a family tree but nothing written on them

Doubt it

By the time Harranhall happens Rhaegar was very much estranged from his father. The whole point of the Tournament was to get the Major and Minor Houses in Rhaegar to oust Aerys as King it was a secret that later found out.

Kind and smart

@@TheGreaseGoblins kind I'll believe, smart is mentioned like 2 times and never shown

She was frigid

@@ChildOfTheFlower probably afraid of everything too. But until we get a book about the ~20-30 years before asoiaf she'll stay a plot device.

@@DeCode343 I mean, she died years and years before the start of the story, how would you expect her to be shown doing anything? She's not meant to be a particularly important character, fair enough, but then we might as well say that any minor character that exists to further other characters' plots isn't a real character but a plot device. I mean, can't find a better example than Brandon Stark, whose only purpose in the story is to be brash and die young in order to kick start the Rebellion.

Why would Aerys be "forced" to marry Cersei to Rhaegar? He refused the first time because he considered her too low to be a bride and there was no consequences really to refusing the marriage.

@@Ashbrash1998 because there isnt anymore good matches in the realm. similar to how he was forced to marry elia to rhagar even tho he's racist to the dornish.