His house doesn't matter for that. Gareth Bryne was First Prince of the Sword. He was neither Morgase's son nor husband, and definitely not a Trakand.

A Queen chooses her First Prince, it's a function. It's Andoran tradition that it's normally her husband, or her oldest brother. Elayne could make a shepherd her First Prince if she wished, but the Houses and her people would expect her to choose Gawyn, or Galad, or her husband.

Elayne or Gawyn mentionned it at some point. If Galad had not saved Gawyn's life, by tradition he would have been Elayne's First Prince. He's only her half-brother, and not even a Trakand. That's still what Elayne would have been expected to do, and Galad was well liked by everyone but Elayne.

The last war of succession in Cairhien was settled in favor of House Riatin, not Damodred. What you have to understand is that Galad then lost most of his political value in Andor. He was too young to enter the Cairhienin contest for the throne or the High Seat of Damodred, without being the puppet of another political player behind him. That couldn't be Taringail, whose duty was now in Andor.

Galad's House has no great impact in Andor. That he was Damodred strenghtened his claim in Cairhien, where his father was passed for the throne because of his marital ties to a foreign heir then a foreign ruler. That had no legal impact on Galad's claim, and due to the special circumstances, Elayne even surmounted political obstacles greater than what blocked her father's own claim from being supported.



I have no idea what you mean by that.



Again, I have no idea what you're getting at, that Tigraine's daughter and heir would have had support for her claim to House Damodred? Nope, normally no, no more than Taringail. Galad, however... It's extraordinary that Elayne got any support.



Tigraine was young, not even Queen yet, and no doubt meant to bear a daughter to succeed her. She would have been High Seat of Mantear. There was no foreseen vacancy to the High Seat, Mordrellen was High Seat and Queen, Tigraine would succeed her. There was Luc to be High Seat before Galad. Tigraine was expected to bear more children. We know Mordrellen didn't have a living sister (obviously), but she may well have had brothers. We have no idea of the ancestry of Perival, the current High Seat. Being chosen High Seat isn't automatic, and each House seems to have its own rules and traditions for succession. And we don't know that House Mantear might not have chosen Galad had he been older when Mordrellen died.

Tigraine could no doubt make Galad a Mantear at any given time if she didn't have a successor and wanted her son to be her heir in the House. He was her son, no one would have denied his ancestry just because she allowed his father the favour to raise him under his Cairhienin House's name to perpetuate his Cairhienin line. He would still have been her daughter's First Prince... Raising Galad a Damodred also gave the Royal House of Andor a better chance to integrate him in Cairhienin politics one day as a member of their Royal House bearing the name rather than as an Andoran noble from the Royal House of Mantear with some blood tie to Damodred - and thus maintain the peace/stability with Andor they sought to achieve by marrying Tigraine to a minor member of the Royal House of Cairhien in the first place. They had no way to foresee what kind of power Galad would really have in Cairhien one day. Taringail was not very near the Throne, merely one of several nieces/nephews of Laman. He had brothers in the line of Succession. Then Tigraine disappeared, Luc disappeared, Mordrellen died, the Aiel war killed Laman, and his brothers, and unexpectedly Taringail might suddenly have gotten the Throne, but was passed over as none would support him because that would have essentially given the Sun Crown to Andor, and his younger sisters/half-sisters also got passed over for other reasons. Finally, there was a civil war and the whole House was passed over and a rival House won.

You forget one important thing: Taringail wasn't Andoran. Only in Andor's high nobility vying for the succession to Ishara is a mother's name or House traditionally more important, but for the daughters alone as the bloodlines aren't passed through the males. Forcing Taringail to give his first son the name of his mother in effect extinguished his own line in Cairhien. That's harsh for a father, and there was no good legal reason in Andor to do that, since that changed nothing to the fact Galad was of Tigraine's blood. He wasn't raised by members of House Mantear because his father remarried! House Mantear replaced Mordrellen on the High Seat by someone else. Galad was a mere toddler at the time, and his guardian a foreign Lord, a foreign lord that for the good of Andor was better remarried to the House that Mantear supported in the Succession: Trakand.

Morgase had no interest in making Galad a Trakand, she had to think of her own children from her own blood.



He was a toddler! He would never have won the support for the HS of Damodred without Taringail joining the civil war in his name, with all the risks that entailed for Andor.

You have to see beyond the throne and High Seat. Galad's importance was far more a matter of influence. Galad Damodred remained a powerful member of House Damodred, like Moiraine, like Caraline. He would get many lands from his father, lands that because of his name remained Damodred's (some passed to Trakand down the line, because Morgase was in a position to bargain Taringail into marrying into her House if he wanted to keep any power in Andor) He could be placed at the Royal Court one day - near Laman or his sucessor, and pushed Andor's interests, but as a Damodred rather than Mantear or Trakand, easier to make accept at the Court. He could have been more useful to Andor as a Damodred there than as a Mantear or Trakand.



His claim by blood was just above Elayne's own (primogeniture counts in Cairhien, to an extent), but there's far more than that in play. It's about support, and what power is behind you. Elayne's claim was worthless if the Cairhienin Houses didn't choose to recognize it and support her. The path to the Sun Throne was blocked, and anyway schemes to gain the Sun Throne would never have been without risks to Andor (could well have sparked a war). Galad might have been sent to Barthanes eventually, if there was need for Andor to pull strings with the second most powerful House in Cairhien.



He didn't play any political role because:
- He had not even completed his training
- There was currently no real need for Morgase to pull strings with House Damodred, and beside there would have been risks, given the enmity between House Damodred and the King. Sending Galad in Cairhienin politics would not exactly have been perceived as a positive development by the ruling House of Cairhien.
- Basically, Galad was just a potential tool, politically. He wasn't useful to Morgase politically for the time being. Maybe he would, one day, maybe he never would. His best potential use was all along very likely through a wedding in Cairhien to strengthen the political ties. There was no advantage to making him a Trakand unless Gawyn died, and even then it wasn't necessary for him to replace Gawyn's as Elayne's First Prince, if she wasn't married.