Well once upon a time Aerys was a young and respected talent like Rhaegar, we don’t get much in the way of actual achievements from him but during the last Blackfyre Rebellion, Aerys won the respect of a lot of future lords like Tywin and he was well liked by the knights of the realm.
I think Rhaegar was similar to Aerys in that way, but the hints of Rhaegar’s madness were always there. There were hints that he was a follower of the Lord of Light which is not the most sane of religions lol.
Anyway OT: Rhaegar “kidnapping” Lyanna was definitely controversial, but only Aerys’s murder of the Starks could have actually sparked realm-wide war. More controversial things have happened than Rhaegar and Lyanna but Aerys nearly lead the entire realm to destroy itself lol.
I think even a half decent King could have handled the whole Rhaegar thing well enough to not cause war to break out. Aegon the Conqueror himself had multiple wives, a decent King could have convinced the realm that this was just an old Targaryen tradition and that Rhaegar should be allowed to take a second wife as well. The Baratheons would have been pissed, but just promise Robert a Targaryen bride lol. Rhaegar had a daughter and Danaerys herself came about eventually so it’s not unreasonable to promise Robert a female Targaryen within his lifetime lol. And Robert alone being pissed about Lyanna wouldn’t have lead to Robert’s rebellion lol.
Even if House Baratheon would have for some reason rebelled, it took the Starks, Arryn’s, Baratheons, and ultimately Lannisters to destroy the realm, one house can’t do that alone lol.
Nah, I definitely blame Aerys for the Targaryen fall lol.
