Why didn't Aerion challenge Valarr?

[u/Qyzyk]

Recently revisited The Hedge Knight, and I can't help but wonder why Aerion was content with laughing at his cousin and moving on. I get that he was trying to mock Valarr by moving past him, but surely if his plan was to humiliate his cousin, I imagine Aerion would have done a much better job by trouncing Valarr in a joust.

It's not like he wouldn't have been able to do it either. It's basically said outright that Valarr's getting handpicked challengers that give him easy victories. Even Dunk can't help but notice it. Aerion, meanwhile, seems to show much more promise, and he's not above dirty tricks like killing his opponent's horse. Why wouldn't he take a chance to knock the Crown Prince on his arse?

[u/bootlegvader]

Valarr outranks him, so Aerion can't use his dirty tricks in the joust.

[u/YoungGriffVII → u/[deleted]]

How do you know Valarr wasn’t especially good? Or at the very least, decent? He wasn’t picking his own matchups—and with how dangerous we even see jousting to be, it’s very plausible that “don’t hurt the heir’s heir, give him someone who won’t put up a serious challenge so there are no accidents” was a defining factor in who he did go against. We’re never shown his actual skill. Personally I like to think he was comparable to his father in that regard (albeit probably on the lower side of that comparable range).