#daemion targaryen (before aegon i)

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

While the pre-Aegon I targs receive almost no focus in any published material, how do you think it may have changed in precedent at the Great Councils if there was a ruling Lady of Dragonstone in the ancestry? When I first read F&B, I almost thought there would be a retcon with the Valyrians to be Salic / Agnatic and that would factor into the precedent of the great council of 101. There’s also a pro-daemon argument for agnatic seniority up to Daemon that I would’ve loved to have GRRM explore

Oh, but there was a ruling lady of Dragonstone:

Gaemon Targaryen, brother and husband to Daenys the Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone, and became known as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon's son Aegon and his daughter Elaena ruled together after his death. After them the lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys's sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone.

And we know that Elaena was a Lady in her own right and not just her husband's, because Aerys and Daemion and Aerion had wives, but they aren't spoken of as "ruling together". Therefore Aegon and Elaena's situation must have been with her on the same level as him. But alas, that didn't seem to help much with later succession arguments.

I suppose there might be an agnatic seniority argument, but I can also see that they specifically factored in female heirs and "a daughter before an uncle" of male-preference primogeniture:

As the glad tidings of Rhaena’s birth spread across the land, the realm rejoiced…save, perhaps, for Queen Visenya. Prince Aenys was the unquestioned heir to the Iron Throne, all agreed, but now an issue arose as to whether Prince Maegor remained second in the line of succession, or should be considered to have fallen to third behind the newborn princess. [...] The boy, named Aegon after his grandsire, was born to Lady Alyssa and fathered by Prince Aenys. [...] While many still debated whether Prince Maegor or his niece, Rhaena, should have precedence in the order of succession, it seemed beyond question that Aegon would follow his father, Aenys, just as Aenys would follow Aegon.

BTW, if you're interested, you can see an essay by an actual lawyer stating that the precedent of the Great Council of 101 was no legal precedent at all.

But anyway, you're not the only one who wishes F&B had gone into far greater detail about various legal and social decisions of the Targaryens. @goodqueenaly has gone into it at length, in particular about the politics of matchmaking, and the lack of it in F&B...

[silver-dragonborn]

A HOTD au where instead of Laena dying by dragon fire/childbirth, she lives on to give birth to a son, Daemion Targaryen, and her husband mysteriously dies of a burst belly. With her newborn son in her arms, Dark Sister at her hip, her two grieving daughters, and an equally grieving Caraxes claimed by Rhaena, Laena returns to Dragonstone for the funeral of her husband. Queen Alicent and her father, once again appointed Hand, secretly rejoice in the death of their despised foe and brazenly make moves to put Aegon II on the throne. The death of Daemon Targaryen has left Viserys a shell of the man he used to be and Rhaenyra struggles to accept the death of her beloved Uncle and the pressure of her inheritance.

But Laena refuses to cave under grief and uses it to drive her to ensure that her children are well cared for and that Rhaenyra's inheritance remains intact and away from the Greens. But envy and restless hearts threaten her plans and Laena finds herself romantically entangled with yet another dragon of fire.

Outside the towering walls of Dragonstone, the wind raged as if joining Laena in her fury. The sea was foaming under the gleaming moon like a cold caress, the sound a small comfort for Rhaenyra as she wrapped her black cloak tighter around herself. She searched one end of the beach to the other before glimpsing Laena standing with water up to her knees, fingers playing with the Dark Sister's hilt.

Rhaenyra didn’t need to see her expression to know she was furious.

Poor, sweet Rhaena with tears on her cheeks and trembling hands had given Caraxes the command to burn Daemon's body, her family standing in support behind her as Queen Alicent along with her father and brood stood a little ways from the flames, but no one had missed the small smile of triumph in the Queen's eyes or the grim look of satisfaction on Otto's face.

Their happiness and Alicent's constant need to force Rhaenyra into a conversation to offer her false condolences had nauseated her to the point where she practically had fled to the beaches to gather herself and speak to Laena...alone.

Heart in her mouth, Rhaenyra strode over towards her, each step shrinking the vastness that had come in between them. Laena did not turn, watching the waves sweep up on the sand before her, her body tensing with each step Rhaenyra took.

“Laena, I'm sorry,” she blurted. “Please, Laena, you mustn't be alone--”

Laena's shoulders moved convulsively, halting her words. “Let us speak plainly, cousin. My husband, your Uncle, is dead and now the vultures show their brazenness without shame and have even expressed an interest in having Dark Sister given to Aemond who displays nothing but Daemon's worst traits. Surely his mother isn’t blind to his viciousness….” Laena's voice trailed away.

“Laena, I know..,” she murmured. When Laena did not reply, Rhaenyra breathed in the salt wind through her nose to clear her mind. She knew. Everyone knew. She was trying so hard and now Daemon-- “I don't think you do know, cousin.” Laena's silver head whipped around, presenting her with the full extent of her grief and Rhaenyra crumbled at the look of agony on her beautiful face. "I don't think you understand just how far your beloved Hightower will go to make a mockery of your grief and twist it to her advantage. You don't...you don't..." Laena's voice trailed off and her expression twisted in a look of despair as she fell to her knees and sobbed. Rhaenyra dashed forward into the water with her and held the sobbing woman in her arms, two dragons of sea and fire lost in their grief as the waves crashed.

"What is to happen to us now?"

"We protect your crown and our children's rights with Fire and Blood. Daemon is gone, but his progeny lives and I swear by the sea, House Hightower will never be free of his shadow." Rhaenyra barely heard Laena's oath, the wind pushing her curly hair into her mouth. She was dragging it free when Laena crushed her palms to her temples and, looming in, crashed her lips to Rhaenyra's with bruising force, a kiss that Rhaenyra immediately returned. The force of their passion consumed them as the two women embraced under the cold moonlight, a promise on their lips.

By fire and sea.

[hosts-of-valyria]

• Volantis River Rhoyne the far East of Essos - Valyrian Colony the Rhoynish Valyrian Wars •

"Seize him and bring Blackfyre to me Ardrian. Any last words Garin now is the time", said Gaemon while Volantis burned brightly through dragonfire and Garin spat at Gaemon's feet and Ardrian Qoherys slapped Garin in the face and he gave Blackfyre to Gaemon, "I PISS ON VALYRIA! SISTER FUCKER", called Garin and Gaemon cut off Garin's head with Blackfyre, "Execute Garin's followers and tell them in the capital that Nymeria escaped to Westeros the west is due", said Gaemon, "oh with pleasure Commander", and Ardrian Qoherys and his Valyrian Knights and Dragonlords killed Garin's followers.

Will Fletcher and Freya Allan as Gaemon Targaryen and Daenys Targaryen - Daenys the Dreamer and Gaemon the Glorious - Dakota Fanning as Lady Visenna Qoherys, Lee Pace as Lord Ardrian Qoherys

Murat Yildirim as Garin of the Rhoynar - Garin the Great

Thoughts of Daenys Targaryen

I've spent my life guarding the empire blood of two joined as one. Ghostly flame and Song of Shadows. Two hearts as embers forged in Fourteen Fires. A future promised in glass the stars stand witness the vow spoken through time of darkness and light by the glory of the Empire and the Valyrian Gods.

Centuries before the War of the Five Kings an Empire ruled with an iron hand over its enemies. Long before the Dance of Dragons with the Realm's Delight Rhaenyra Targaryen and the Rogue Prince Daemon Targaryen, long before Robert's Rebellion and the Fall of the Iron Throne an Empire shattered the enemies into the sand with names as countless as the stars in the firmament the Dragon Empire, the Valyrians, the Freehold. Over 100 years before Rhaenys, Aegon and Visenya Targaryen.

Many years before the Greyjoy Rebellion and the Tournament of Harrenhal - the dawn of Valyria when the stars were young the greatest power in Essos nations tremble and hold their breath as the Valyrian Legions and Dragon Armies march nobody in the known world shall stand a chance against the might of the Valyrian Empire with a weapon arsenal and manpower up to 1500 dragons, 6000 Valyrian War Ships, 90000 Valyrian Knights, 5000 Valyrian War Elephants, 10000 Firewyrms and over 100000 Dragonlords.

Fear and Respect for the valyrian contingent and the war machinery. Honor for our beloved Emperor and Empress. Glory for the Empire and the Valyrian Gods. The greatest leaders for the Freehold and the golden generation for Valyria.

• Tyria capital of the Valyrian Empire the ancient home of the Targaryens and Belaerys and Seat of the Valyrian Senate - Reign of Emperor Aurion Belaerys and Empress Jaenara Belaerys - Valyrian Peninsula •

"My most loyal vassal is back Valyria's highest Commander is back from the Rhoynish Valyrian War in Volantis there was panic in Nymeria's eyes as she fled. Let's hear what my cousin Gaemon Targaryen and his best men have to say. Silence in the senate silence in the room. I command Silence", said Aurion while Daenys, Aenar and Shaena smiled at Gaemon, "I greet the Senate, Dragonlords and Senators. Garin and his followers are dead i executed him myself. Nymeria and her Rhoynar fled to Westeros after Sunspear in Dorne so i would councel we have our eyes to the west", said Gaemon and Visenna Celtigar, Jaenara and Aurion nodded.

"Gulltown, Stonehelm or Duskendale are great for targeted attacks, conquests and invasions. We have unfinished business with the Andals and First Men", said Gaemon and Ardrian.

"Valyria has been waiting for such an opportunity for a long time and now it is within reach to compete with the West i agree with the Commander we should look westward", said Aenar, Shaena, Daenys Targaryen and Daemion Velaryon and the senators from their seats. Jaenara and Aurion turned with their chairs and the two Belaerys siblings looked at each other.

"The hell itself could not digest Westeros and we show Valyria's Might to the Westerosis we are light years apart. We show true power with our dragonfire", said Jaenara and Aurion and the senate applauded loudly.

Marton Csokas and Charlize Theron as Lord Aenar Targaryen and Lady Shaena Targaryen born Belaerys - Luke Eisner and Anya Taylor-Joy as Jaenara Belaerys and Aurion Belaerys Emperor and Empress of the Valyrian Empire

[blue-mint-winter]

So I started reading Fire and Blood and stopped on Maegor's death. I had some thoughts:

I think the Targaryens were fighting each other during Century of Blood (before the Conquest), because of 2 reasons. Firstly, 4 out of 5 dragons they brought from Valyria died of unspecified causes and I doubt it was old age. Secondly, there's a passage about succession: "the lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys’s sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone". It's probable they fought each other and Daemion was the last one standing. And after that they covered it up and never mentioned it again, because of the kinslaying stigma.

There's a mention of Velaryon having Targaryen blood: "Lady Valaena of House Velaryon, herself half Targaryen on her mother’s side". If she had brothers, then it's possible they were Sea Snake's ancestors and it proves why Addam in the show could claim a dragon. Possibly. Also, it appears that there was a time when Targaryens had enough women to spare to marry to other houses. Aeriana, the greatgrandmother of Ser Steffon in the show, doesn't break book canon ;)

I am very curious what was in Deria Martell's letter to Aegon that convinced him to make peace with Dorne. My theory is that it has something to do with the prophecy or his dreams. Martells know something important and I hope it will be revealed in the main ASOIAF story.

It was pretty obvious that Rhaena was visiting all her gal pals when she was flying around on Dreamfyre. Four women, four locations: Larissa Velaryon - on Tarth, Alayne Royce - in Runestone, Melony Piper - Harrenhal (maybe she was there, at least it proves Rhaena flew to Riverlands), Samantha Stokeworth - Gulltown (?).

I wonder what was the Hightowers game during Aenys&Maegor mess. They had Ceryse as Maegor's wife but they didn't support him and didn't use this connection in any way that made sense, even though they were anti-Aenys and Aegon/Rhaena. Maybe their goal was to use Faith to get rid of all Targaryens and Ceryse was just a smokescreen. In the end she was kind of useless? I think Otto should have been born earlier to concoct some better schemes ;)

High Septon's murder mystery shall remain a mystery as the author lists all suspects, even Visenya who wasn't there, but nothing about the cause of death. Kind of makes me think that maybe in this one case it was natural causes, he could have a stroke out of nowhere and die, it sometimes happens to even young people.

What was Tyanna's goal??? It's kind of frustrating that the text doesn't hint at any kind of motivations she could have for her actions. The explanation that she was a witch is just weak. She was rumoured to be Alys Harroway's paramour, they even shared a wedding night, and then she threw Alys under the bus by accusing her of cheating and personally tortured and killed her. Then she confessed to poisoning all of Maegor's unborn children. What's the reason, did she hate Maegor and didn't want him to have kids? Was her goal to eventually kill him too and take power for herself as the Queen?

I'd like to know more about Lodos, the son of Drowned God, and Lodos the Twice-Drowned, because the idea they were the same person is fascinating. This is some real Ironborn fuckery.

Lucifer Massey just appeared and died fighting by Maegor's side against Warrior's Sons. With a name like that he deserves a longer story.

Maegor's murder mystery. I have no idea who did it. Tyanna's ghost? A quick crackpot theory - he pressed a secret button Aegon installed that makes the blades come out of the throne and kill the person sitting on it. Only true heirs of the throne know about that button, ensuring their safety. The ones who usurp the throne get cut and killed by it. Sadly, the knowledge of the button died with Aegon the Uncrowned, though it could have been rediscovered later on.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

hello aegor-bamfsteel, you have blessed us with so many metas about Daemon/blackfyres and asoiaf in general. I’m curious if you have any about Elaena’s twins, they are rarely talked about, I mean it’s understandable as we know nothing about them outside of Jon’s descendants forming their own house, beside Rennifer Longwaters saying about Jon that “he grew to be a great knight, as did his own son, who put the 'Long' before the 'Waters' so men might know that he was not basely born himself…" sooo do you have any headcanons about the twins Jon and Jeyne?

Thank you for the kind words about my Blackfyre metas. It’s says a lot to me that you consider yourself blessed when I write. I actually do have headcanons about Elaena’s oldest children, although I’ve been hesitant to share them because I’ve gotten hate from Blackfyre antis for speculating they and their mother had a positive relationship with Daemon Blackfyre. All my Waters twins related headcanons are based on the fact that Elaena remarried when they were 6 years old at the most and would be unable to take them with her to Plumm lands. After that time, where would they be raised? The Velaryons are an option, but I don’t like that considering how Alyn treated Baela, by having an affair with a recently released captive young enough to be his granddaughter (plus she apparently hoped to marry him, which depending on if Baela were alive was disrespectful). Basically I don’t think Baela’s children would want much to do with the twins, and probably didn’t foster them at Driftmark immediately. But there was one person, someone Elaena deeply admired, who still lived in the Red Keep and had a child approximately the same age as the twins: Daena Targaryen. So I like to think that the twins were raised alongside Daemon in Daena’s household, and this had a great effect on who’d they become as adults.

Daena wasn’t someone to set strict rules for the kids with their future in mind (Jon and Daemon must train at arms to earn their living by the sword, Jeyne must learn etiquette and writing to become a lady in waiting); rather, she’d encourage them to pursue their interests, after her male relatives had denied her the opportunity. Her household would’ve been an unusually open spot in Aegon’s deadly, exploitative court. Their childhood with Daena would’ve represented something not unlike what Winterfell represents for the Stark kids: a time of innocence, relative lack of responsibility, friendship and honest love…though try as Daena might, she couldn’t protect them from anti-illegitimate prejudice or hearing of many of Aegon’s abuses. Nor did she prepare them for the danger when less well-meaning authority figures looked after them.

So I imagine that Daena died very soon before the tournament where Daemon won his honors, because she was no longer able to refuse Aegon’s claims to be his father. Daena, who as a sportswoman was always in fine health, didn’t imagine that she’d pass away before the children were of age (in fact some of her supporters believed that Aegon had poisoned her to get her out of the way). She wanted to marry Jeyne and Daemon, only a year apart in age, to prevent them from being used as marriage pawns in some political game, so they and Jon could keep the United front as they did in childhood. Nevertheless, Daena had a few supporters who wanted her on the Iron Throne that might agree to take in the children. The Master of Hull, Daemion Velaryon (who had once proposed marriage to Daena and later wed one of her companions from the Maidenvault, Maia Stokeworth) agreed to see to their needs. While Jeyne and Jon were able to reach Driftmark, Daemon had been held back by Quentyn Ball due to a possible squireship. Upset at the loss of their friend’s son, Daemion and Maia took in the Waters twins and tried to see them reach a more standard level of education.

I have fewer headcanons for Jon. In their youth he and Daemon resembled each other from the back, though he stayed lean whereas Daemon broadened. He inherited the thin, angry mouth of his mother, though he tended more to melancholy silence than outright rage. He had none of Elaena’s wit or Daena’s easy manner, and while he quietly admired his aunt and adopted her approach to honor, he considered Elaena lacking in strong morals. What he did have was a solid work ethic and sense of duty to protect his family, especially his sister Jeyne, who had a harder time conforming to societal expectations. He was also prone to self-criticism. He was grateful to Daemion for taking him in and hiring a master-at-arms (Daena’s former sworn shield, Gareth “the Grey”) to see to his training, and was indulgent with his foster sisters. He and Daemon were good friends in childhood, and Daemon often was a go-between in Jon and his mother’s strained relationship. He feared Aegor Rivers as a dangerous radical who’d disrupt the social order (and he was right), and also resented how close they’d gotten when Aegor was never part of Daemon’s life until recently. In a generation of famous knights, Jon was certainly good, but not among the best, not helped by his social awkwardness (borne of living in someone’s shadow/treated as an inconvenience). Living amongst Daena’s old supporters—and considering his childhood with her to be his happiest memories—he of course would’ve supported Daemon. However, Elaena—noting the tension of court—had him sent to Braavos as part of Michel Manwoody’s escort, and the war was over when he returned to Westeros. Jon was furious that his mother—who he’d felt never bothered to understand him, but treated him as a minor inconvenience rather than a son—would go over his head and soil his honor, rather than let him fight and die as he chose. Elaena did not wish to see any of her children die needlessly in a war she felt was pointless and unwinnable, and believed she was saving him from himself. Shamed, Jon did not go to Tyrosh to join the exiles, as he felt that they would attempt to kill him as a traitor and Red ally. While not technically a Blackfyre supporter, Da3ron II knew that was only because of Elaena, and for his service to the crown in Essos granted him the hand of Gemima Waters, the illegitimate niece of Clarence Cargyll and heiress to half his lands…which “happened” to adjoin the salted lands of the exiled Blackfyres, so Jon could contemplate the mistake his cousin had made. While Jon feared what would happen to him should the Blackfyres return to fight for the throne, he passed away before he could find out. His son Allar ruled the lands jointly with his mother, and having won honor fighting the ironborn, changed his name to Longwaters and erected a new keep.

I have more headcanons for Jeyne. She was tall and lanky, yellow-haired and purple eyed. Daena insisted on Jeyne learning to defend herself with spear and bow. However, her passion was for science, and she would spend time reading and speaking to the “wisest maesters”. Jeyne was friends with Princess Daenerys, who would join the Waters’ in their games. Yet she felt like the princess had what she lacked, being charming, witty, beautiful, and brave. Squires would give Daenerys a lot of attention while Jeyne (who had read about romance in her books and had a crush on one of those admirers) was relegated to “the ugly friend”. Jeyne was more aware of her uncertain future than the boys and tried to focus on becoming a good lady-in-waiting, as Daenerys was certain she’d be allowed to take Jeyne with her when she wed. She accepted her mother’s nameday gifts with more grace than Jon, and as she got older had a better relationship with Elaena, who found her intelligent and “occasionally sensible”. When she got to Hull, she came out of her shell more, being able to explore the sea, learn to keep accounts, and even was romanced by another ward, Titus Peake, who promised to be one of the greatest stewards in their generation, and the Heir to Dunstonbury besides. Following her mother and aunt, she declared her intention to marry him, only to be told that he was too high of a match for an illegitimate child. Titus’ grandmother understood the value of a marriage with Targaryen and offered Titus’ brother Domeric. The Velaryons agreed without even telling Elaena, who legally had no claim to dispose her hand. Jeyne gave birth to her first child at 14, a son named Desmond, just a year younger than Daemon’s twins; at 17, she had a girl named Danna. Jeyne often also tended to her goodsisters’ children, who in exchange taught her better how to keep a castle. She experimented with different types of fertilizer to make the gardens grow better. Jeyne’s marriage gave the Peakes closer access to Daemon, and consequently were one of his biggest supporters to the point of offering Danna as a match for Aegon (noting the importance of Valyrian blood in a brides). Perhaps to reassure the Peakes of a betrothal, Daemon legitimized Jeyne as a member of House Targaryen (and thus implied, according to the Peakes, that Jeyne’s line could succeed his own on the throne). When war broke out, Jeyne rode with her husband and young son to use her skills as a healer and weapon maker. She was part of the maesters at the rear of the Blackfyre army at Redgrass. When her son was threatened by a mounted Reachman, she grabbed the reins and plunged a spear into the horse’s neck, giving her son enough time to draw his sword and kill the rider. With the Blackfyre army survivors either going home marching to exile, and her husband slain in battle thus unable to offer protection, Jeyne had a choice: either to join the exiles in Tyrosh with her son (where at least her skills as a scientist would be better appreciated) leaving her daughter behind, or to surrender her son to the Reds and pretend the Peakes had forced her into supporting Daemon. Jeyne chose exile, so Gormon Peake gave her a small escort for protection. She and her son were attainted and Danna became a hostage in the Red Keep; she was treated with enough courtesy thanks to Elaena that she was not forced to become a septa, but instead betrothed to a Gulltown Arryn, which probably saved her life (the Vale was untouched by the Great Spring Sickness). As for Jeyne, she eventually remarried to a Tyroshi alchemist in order to become an unofficial member of their guild. She was helpful in securing their support in making weapons for the Third Blackfyre war effort. Her family would play a fairly significant part in the Bamfsteel version of the Third Blackfyre, as it struggles to heal itself after a generation of loss and forced separation.

This is much less organized that the headcanons on the Blackfyres, maybe because there’s more of them since the Waters twins have a more set story role. I thought that since the Targaryens were all United and never lost any relative to a Blackfyre (which certainly doesn’t make me sympathize with them, since the Blackfyres lost nearly everyone) that it’d be interesting to have Elaena’s older children be close to their cousin and want to fight for him, or even choose him in a way that cut them off from their mother. I’m not saying I expect GRRM to write a story exactly like these headcanons (tbh not even I would), but I’m interested in thinking up character dynamics that create emotional resonance and compliment the themes of the main series. I have even more headcanons on Jeyne at least, but this post has gone on long enough.

Thanks again for the ask and the kind words about my metas.

[sebeth]

The World Of Ice And Fire: House Targaryen (Pre-Conquest)

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

  I will be bouncing between “the World of Ice and Fire” and “Fire and Blood” to cover the early years of the Targaryen’s reign in Westeros.

The World of Ice and Fire was written by Maester Yandel and Fire and Blood was authored by Archmaester Gyldayn.

Yandel’s tome was a gift for the Baratheon kings while Gyldayn’s book is a history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

“Aegon’s Conquest” contains material I’ve covered in the “World of Ice And Fire” so a quick recap:

·         Dates in Westeros or AC (After the Conquest” or BC (Before the Conquest).

·         Such dating is imprecise as there is no specific ending date for the Wars of Conquest.

·         Aegon the Conqueror dated the start of his reign from “the day he was crowned and anointed” and not the day he began his conquest two years earlier.

·         Most of the actual Conquest took place in 2 – 1 BC.

·         Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization.

·         Dozens of rival houses “vied for power and glory in court and council”.

·         The Targaryens were pure-blooded Valyrian dragon lords of an ancient lineage but far from the most powerful of the lords.

·         Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC), Daenys “the Dreamer” Targaryen had a dream that foretold the destruction of Valyria.

·         Aenar Targaryen, the father of Daenys, sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of Long Summer, gathered all “his wives, wealth, slaves, dragons, siblings, kin, and children” and moved to Dragonstone, an island off the coast of Westeros.

·         Dragonstone had been the “westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries”. The Targaryens along with the Velaryons of Driftmark and the Celtigars of Claw Isle (two Valyrian houses of lesser descent) used Dragonstone to dominate the trade traffic of the middle reaches of the Narrow Sea.

Did Aenar forewarn anyone else of the upcoming destruction of Valyria? Was he doomed to be a Cassandra-type figure – warning of destruction only to be ignored? Or did he simply not care and used the future destruction of Valyria as the most ruthless move in the “game of thrones” ever?

Were the Velaryons and the Celtigars located on Driftmark and Claw Isle before the Aenar’s migration of did they arrive with him?

 Back to the recap:

·         The hundred years after the Doom of Valyria is called the Century of Blood. House Targaryen ignored Westeros.

House Targaryen’s leadership during the Century of Blood was as follows:

1.       Aenar “the Exile” Targaryen

2.       Gaemon “the Glorious” Targaryen & Daenys “the Dreamer” Targaryen (Aenar’s children)

3.       Aegon & Elaena Targaryen (Gaemon & Daenys’ children)

4.       Maegon Targaryen (Aegon & Elaena’s son)

5.       Aerys Targaryen (Aegon & Elaena’s son)

6.       Aelyx Targaryen (Aerys’s son)

7.       Baelon Targaryen (Aery’s son)

8.       Daemion Targaryen (Aery’s son)

9.       Aerion Targaryen (Daemion’s son)

Aerion would wed Lady Valaena Velaryon, who was half-Targaryen on her mother’s side. They would have three children: Visenya, Aegon, and Rhaenys.

Aegon wed his elder sibling, Visenya, as custom dictated, and Rhaenys, his youngest sibling, because he felt like it.

“The custom amongst the dragonlords of Valyria to wed brother to sister to keep the bloodlines pure.” I understand the reason for the post-Doom inbreeding (lack of Valyrian options) but why was it the custom pre-Doom? Wouldn’t another non-related pure-blooded Valyrian dragon lord work as well as a sibling minus the nasty inbreeding aspects? Was it really a custom in Valyria or was it simply a falsehood stated by the Targaryens to justify the ongoing sibling marriages?

·         Only one of the five dragons that accompanied Aenar to Dragonstone survived to the beginning of the Conquest: Balerion the Black Dread. Vhagar and Meraxes hatched on Dragonstone.

·         A common myth states Aegon never stepped foot on Westeros before the Conquest but it is untrue. There are reports of Aegon and Visenya visiting the Citadel of Oldtown and as guests of Lord Redwyne on the Arbor. Aegon may have visited Lannisport as well.

 Up next, the differences between Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaenys.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hey thoughts on Baela's ship? Jace or Alyn?

Hey there Anon and sorry for this delay!

I actually have to give you major props because you sent this ask the day I was dealing with the RIP incel at our comment section and here on tumblr, so it was maybe the only thing that day that made me laugh 😂

Me: having drama

You: but what are your thoughts in Baela/Jace and Baela/Alyn though?!

Thank you ❤️

So answering your question, well I think I have mentioned it in the past but I have a lot of mixed feelings about the “Velaryon” princes. For once I think all three of them were very interesting characters who actually have a personality, and for the most part everything about them is positive. They were brave, bold, Jace was smart and shrewd… they were definitely from Baelon and Jaehaerys’s line and though they did not look Targaryen I think inside they were as Targaryen as they could be ❤️ I wholeheartedly believe Daemon kept looking at them and thinking “F:cking hell these should have been MY sons as well!!!!! Imagine just how much better looking they would be!!!! F:ck you Viserys! I could have FIVE boys! 😤” named Daemon, Daemion, and Daemond 😂

I also think they suffered terrible deaths that they did nothing to deserve.

And to all of you who think they did deserve to die because they were bastards, maybe reassess yourselves. It’s one thing for people in the asoiaf to think so, quite another for us here in the real world to think like this. If you need to be told: the circumstances of our births do not define us. Our actions do. You’re welcome!

But (here comes that round juicy 🍑) in the story I felt that they were always destined to die in a way. Kind of like Laenor, Laena, Harwin… like you could tell where all of this was heading to and even from how baby Aegon’s birth and he is described that he was the one destined to have the throne… so I could never get too invested in them, or I tried not to because I just knew it was leading to nothing - and because I new how the story ended before reading it, I mean Aegon III came after Rhaenyra - I just accepted it 🤷🏽‍♀️

I felt about them like I did about Visenya (though I still like Visenya more), in the sense that I like them, but I kind of don’t want them to succeed. While they x10000 better than the Gangreens, their rule would not have worked out, not with Aegon III and Viserys II existing, sorry but no. And if they had gotten the throne Westeros would not have known peace imo. An AU where the Blacks win and the “Velaryon” princes become kings is just not something I think I could believe in. I think Daemon accepting this would be to ooc for him (again imo) and my rule for reading aus is that I have to feel that the characters are still the same while reflecting the change the AU introduces.

This all to say that I think Jace was a great man and he had every trait (except the dodgy circumstances of his birth) to become a great king. Do I think he was better than Alyn and would have made Baela happier? Without a shadow of a doubt. Alyn for the most part was not a good manager and did not make wise decisions and he was a manwh0re who kept cheating on a Targaryen princess. Like b🐕tch! How DARE you?! Also his scene of “I’m a have a son name him Corlys and maybe he will be king” is just 🤮🤡🤮🤡 moment. Like calm down. Way down, Alyn. Like way down!

Also yes, please worship a f:cking dude who did not care about you and your brother for years 🙄

And yes I still love Corlys as a character so y’all Karens can go lurk someone else. And yes I also still love Alyn despite all of this I am saying.

In the end, I kind of feel that despite everything him and Baela were destined to be together. I did love their secret marriage and though he was a cheating sack of 💩 he did seem to love her. I just loved when he talked about her you know? Like I could feel it.

All in all, gun to my head I will still pick Baela/Alyn. Do I still also like Baela/Jace? Yeah I absolutely do!

All the best to you, Anon 😊 and thank you again!

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

What bothers me is the saying that when a Targaryen is born, god flips a coin on whether they’re good or mad. So how many known mad Targaryens are there? Is it truly 50/50 or is it heavily inflated?

Short answer: Very heavily inflated.

Long answer: There are a few things to clear up before I start compiling the list. ‘Madness’ is classified as 'the state of being mentally ill’: 

So, those who make my 'mad’ list are going to fit this definition, whereas Targaryens who, say, took lives due to participation in medieval wars or battles, will not fall into the 'mad’ category.

So what’s the quote, exactly?

“King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.”

Now, let’s bust that ‘Targaryen Madness’ myth!

Depending on the type of coin used, the probability of a coin flip differs. It’s either 50/50, 51/49, and in some more extreme estimations, as high as 55/45. Which, according to the above quote, means Targaryen madness has a roughly 45-55% chance of occurring.

Even in the Wiki of Ice and Fire, Targaryen Madness has its own entry, stating that:

“It must be observed that of the Targaryen kings who ruled Westeros for almost 300 years, only Aerys could be considered truly mad.”

List of 'Mad’ Targaryens (6):

Maegor I 'the Cruel’ Targaryen

Baelor I 'the Blessed’ Targaryen (this one is debatable)

Prince Rhaegel Targaryen

Aerion 'the Monstrous’ 'Brightflame’ Targaryen

Aerys II 'the Mad King’ Targaryen

Viserys 'the Beggar King’ Targaryen (this one is debatable)

(To better understand why these Targaryens are classified as mad, visit the Villains Wiki for a nice description for each character)

Possible ’Mad’ Targaryens (4):

Helaena Targaryen (became depressed and descended into madness, committed suicide)

Aelora Targaryen (driven mad with grief after losing her husband, committed suicide)

Daenerys 'Stormborn’ Targaryen (no madness in books, yet show made her 'go mad’ from grief and ‘bells’, apparently)

Maelys I 'the Monstrous’ Blackfyre (not actually a Targaryen. Ruthless and cruel, not necessarily mad, did possess a physical deformity)

List of non-Mad Targaryens (80):

Aenar Targaryen

Gaemon 'the Glorious’ Targaryen

Daenys 'the Dreamer’ Targaryen

Aegon Targaryen

Elaena Targaryen

Maegon Targaryen

Aerys Targaryen

Aelyx Targaryen

Baelon Targaryen

Daemion Targaryen

Aerion Targaryen

Visenya Targaryen

Aegon I Targaryen

Rhaenys Targaryen

Aenys I Targaryen

Rhaena Targaryen

Aegon 'the Uncrowned’ Targaryen

Viserys Targaryen 

Jaehaerys I 'the Wise’ Targaryen

'Good Queen’ Alysanne Targaryen

Rhaella Targaryen

Aerea Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen

Vaegon 'the Dragonless’ Targaryen

Maegelle Targaryen

Viserra Targaryen

Saera Targaryen

Gael Targaryen

Aemon Targaryen

Daella Targaryen* (maybe had anxiety?)

Baelon 'the Brave’ Targaryen

Alyssa Targaryen

Rhaenys 'the Queen Who Never Was’ Targaryen

Viserys I Targaryen

Daemon 'the Rogue Prince’ Targaryen* (maybe suffered narcissism?)

Baela Targaryen

Rhaena Targaryen 'of Pentos’

Viserys II Targaryen

Aegon III 'the Younger’ Targaryen* (Had a temper, I guess?)

Jaehaera Targaryen (committed suicide, maybe? probably murdered)

Jaehaerys Targaryen (born with six fingers and toes?)

Aegon II 'the Elder’ Targaryen (Was cruel?)

Aemond 'One-Eye’ Targaryen (Was a shitty person, I guess?)

Daeron 'the Daring’ Targaryen

Elaena Targaryen

Septa Rhaena Targaryen

Daeron I 'the Young Dragon’ Targaryen

Daena 'the Defiant’ Targaryen

Aegon IV 'the Unworthy’ Targaryen (Was a shitty person, I guess?)

Naerys Targaryen

Aemon 'the Dragonknight’ Targaryen

Daemon I Blackfyre

Daeron II ’ the Good’ Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen of Dorne

Maekar I Targaryen (Had a temper I guess?)

Aerys I Targaryen

Baelor 'Breakspear’ Targaryen

Matarys Targaryen

Valarr 'the Young Prince’ Targaryen

Brynden 'Lord Bloodraven’ Rivers (Was kind of a shitty person, I guess?)

Shiera Seastar (Was rumored to be a murdery sorceress?)

Aegor 'Bittersteel’ Rivers (Had a temper, I guess?)

Rhae Targaryen

Aegon V 'the Unlikely’ Targaryen

Daella Targaryen

Maester Aemon Targaryen

Daenora Targaryen

Aelor Targaryen

Maegor Targaryen (fears that he would inherit his father’s madness, I guess?)

Daeron 'the Drunken’ Targaryen

Vaella Targaryen (simple-minded or low IQ, I guess?)

Prince Duncan 'the Small’ Targaryen

Jaehaerys II Targaryen

Shaera Targaryen

Rhaelle Targaryen

Daeron Targaryen

Queen Rhaella Targaryen

Rhaegar 'the Silver Prince’ Targaryen

Rhaenys Targaryen

Aegon Targaryen (👶?) (or… may be Young Griff?)

Non-'Mad’ Offspring from Targaryen Mothers (11):

Laena Velaryon (gave birth to a deformed son, I guess?)

Jacaerys Velaryon

Lucerys Velaryon

Joffrey Velaryon

Joy Penrose

Jon Waters

Jeyne Waters

Viserys Plumm

Robin Penrose

Laena Penrose

Jocelyn Penrose

Targaryens who died as babies (11):

Vaella Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Gaemon Targaryen 👶

Valerion Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Maelor Targaryen 👶

Baelon Targaryen 👶

Jaehaerys Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Daeron Targaryen 👶

Shaena Targaryen 👶

Targaryen babies born with physical deformities (2):

Visenya Targaryen 👶 (twisted and malformed)

Rhaego 👶 (born deformed… likely the result of magic)

Equations and Conclusion:

If we want to get VERY generous and say that EVERY Targaryen baby who died young would end up mad, we’d be at 23 Targaryens out of 114 known Targaryens, or a madness rate of about 16%. That’s nowhere near the 45% chance of a coin toss.

Still being a generous, we’ll lump together all the mad Targaryens, possibly mad Targaryens, all the non-mad ones with footnotes, and the deformed babies - we get 27 total, which would be about 24% - but this is including people who just have bad attitudes, anxiety, rumors spread about them, or FEARS of madness… is that fair? No, it’s not. Then literally every character in Westeros or Essos would be classified as mad.

If we aim to be a little fairer, including only the known 'mad’ Targaryens, the four debatably 'mad’ Targaryens, and the two babies who were born deformed but died young… then we’d be at a whopping 12 cases of madness out of 114 Targaryens, or about 9%.

However, provable cases of genetic madness? Fuck, I’ll even throw in Daenerys! That brings us up to SEVEN cases of madness out of 114 Targaryens.

…SEVEN ‘MAD’ TARGARYENS.

OUT OF ONE-HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.

Which means that about *SIX PERCENT* of Targaryens have shown any actual 'madness’ in the hundreds of years they’ve inhabited Westeros.

[goodqueenaly]

I don't know if you've been asked this before, but how do you think Rhaenys felt about marrying Aegon? Did she return his feelings, even though he and Visenya were betrothed? How do you think Aegon convinced his parents (or whoever was in charge of his and Visenya's betrothal pact) that he should be allowed to marry both his sisters, given that it was a rare thing to do?

That’s a very good question, and one I’m curious whether Fire and Blood Volume 1 will address at all. Certainly, we don’t have much in terms of the pre-Conquest lives of Aegon and his siblings, and even less of that involves Rhaenys herself. Indeed, I think Rhaenys might have been something of a third wheel to the Targaryens on Dragonstone in the years before the Conquest. Visenya and Aegon seem to have been, to use an ethological term, the alpha pair of the clan: they each received one of the two named Valyrian steel swords belonging to the family, they traveled together to see Oldtown and to be feted by Lord Redwyne on the Arbor, they were expected to carry on the Targaryen incestuous tradition and “rule together” on Dragonstone, just as Gaemon and Daenys and Aegon and Elaena had before them. Rhaenys was, by contrast, an extra, her extraneous position perhaps even more underlined by the apparent dearth of male-line Targaryen relations to whom she could be conveniently wed (TWOIAF gives no indication that Rhaenys’ grandfather Aerion had other brothers, and given that his father Daemion succeeded after his brothers Aelyx and Baelon, I doubt Rhaenys’ Targaryen great uncles had sons of their own, or male Targaryen descendants).

So for Rhaenys, the opportunity to marry Aegon might have seemed unexpected but very welcome. This was, after all, a woman who had mastered a very large and very fearsome dragon, who would prove no slouch in the business of war, and who would take to the role of queen with energy and zeal (even more so, in some ways, than Visenya did). Becoming Aegon’s wife meant that Rhaenys could take part actively in the Conquest and the business of ruling thereafter, instead of watching from the sidelines - or being dangled as a marriage prize for her brother’s allies or potential allies. She would have the ultimate female role in the realm, as a co-ruling monarch more equal to the king than any of her queenly successors, with the added distinction of being the matriarch of the new dynasty (since Aegon made it very clear that he expected his heirs to come only from Rhaenys, not from Visenya too).

This doesn’t answer how Rhaenys felt about Aegon personally, of course, and again, I would be curious if Fire and Blood Volume 1 will discuss this in more detail. I do not believe that Rhaenys took other lovers during her marriage to Aegon; even if she was not romantically devoted to her husband, engaged in an affair that could easily be made obvious with the birth of a non-Valyrian-looking child seems too great a risk for Rhaenys to take. That doesn’t mean she loved Aegon, though, especially with their personalities seeming to be so different - Rhaenys “playful, curious, impulsive, [and] given to flights of fancy”, Aegon serious, determined, and focused, particularly on establishing a lasting Targaryen state. Too, it could not have been easy being a co-queen and co-wife with the elder sister who had every reason to expect she would be Aegon’s only bride.

As for how Aegon managed it, my guess - though it’s only a guess - is that Aegon was already Lord of Dragonstone when he wed, and that he simply said he was going to do it and did it, expecting that his authority (and his mastery of the colossal and fearsome Balerion) would smooth over any questions. Yandel calls his decision to marry Rhaenys as well as Visenya “unusual, though not without precedent”, so presumably there was some history among the dragonlords in general, and perhaps the Targaryens specifically, to take multiple wives. It may be indeed that the lack of close male Targaryen relations actually helped Aegon’s argument; if the Valyrian expatriates were in agreement to “keep the bloodlines pure”, perhaps it made sense, in some way, for Rhaenys to be wed to her indisputably Valyrian brother too, so that she would not be forced - the horror - to marry among non-Valyrians (that’s assuming, of course, that there were also not obvious or suitable candidates for her among their Velaryon cousins). 

[alaynemoonstone-blog]

Fire and Blood - German Preview Translation Part 1.

Disclaimer: it's been a while since I studied German, there's bound to be a few mistakes, any corrections are appreciated.

The Maesters of the Citadel, who preserve the history of Westeros, have been using Aegon's conquest as the starting point of their era for three hundred years. Births, deaths, battles and other events are either dated before Aegon's Conquest or after Aegon's Conquest.

The true scholar knows how imprecise such information is. Aegon Targaryen's Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms did not take place in a single day. More than two years elapsed between Aegon's landing and his coronation in Oldtown... and even after that the conquest was not yet complete because Dorne was not yet subjected. Occasional attempts were repeated during King Aegon's reign, even during the reign of his sons. Therefore, it is impossible to give an exact date for the end of the Wars of Conquest.

Even the start date is based on an erroneous idea. It is often mistakenly assumed that the reign of King Aegon I Targaryen began the day he landed at the mouth of the Black Water, at the foot of the three hills around which the city of King’s Landing would later rise. That's not true! The day of Aegon's Landing was celebrated by the king and his descendants, but the conqueror himself actually counted the years of his reign after the day he was anointed and crowned king in the Starry Sept of Oldtown by the High Septon of Faith. This coronation took place two years after Aegon's Landing, some time after the Targaryens defeated and won the three major battles in the Wars of Conquest. As you can see, most of Aegon's actual conquest took place one to two years before Aegon's conquest.

The Targaryens came from the purest Valyrian blood and were dragonlords of an old sex(?). Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria, Aenar Targaryen sold his possessions in the Free Hold and in the Land of the Always Summer and moved with his consorts, his possessions, slaves, dragons, siblings, children and relatives to Dragonstone, a desolate island citadel under a smoking mountain in the Narrow Sea.

At its peak, Valyria was the largest city in the known world, the center of civilization. Behind its glittering walls, forty rival houses vied for power and glory in court and council, and rose and fell in the endless, volatile and often violent struggle for dominion. The Targaryens were by far not the most powerful of the Dragon Lords, and their rivals condemned their flight to Dragonstone as an act of capitulation and cowardice. But Lord Aenar's virgin daughter, Daenys, who forever made history as Daenys the Dreamer, had foreseen the Doom of Valyrias by fire. And when, twelve years later, the fatality came over Valyria, the Targaryens were the only dragon lords to survive.

Dragonstone had been the westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries. It’s position across the throat allowed it’s masters to strangle the Blackwater Bay, so both the Targaryen and their close allies, the Velaryons of Driftmark (a lower house of Valyrian origin), were able to enrich trade in the region. The Velaryon fleet, along with another Valyrian house, the Celtigars of Claw Island, controlled the middle area of ​​the Narrow Sea, while the Targaryen ruled the sky with their dragons.

Nevertheless, for most of the first hundred years after the Doom (which is aptly called the Century of the Blood), Targaryen's eyes turned eastward rather than westward, showing little interest in Westeros. Gaemon Targaryen, brother and consort of Daenys the Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone and became famous as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon's son Aegon and his daughter Elaena reigned together after his death. They were followed by their son Maegon, his brother Aerys and Aerys' sons Aelyx, Baelon and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion eventually became Lord of Dragonstone.

Then Aegon, known to history as Aegon the Conqueror and Aegon the Dragon, was born in 27 B.C. on Dragonstone. He was the only son and second child of Aerion, Lord of Dragonstone, and Lady Valaena of House Velaryon, who was half Targaryen through her mother. Aegon had two siblings, an older sister, Visenya, and a younger sister, Rhaenys. For a long time it had been the custom of the Valyrian Dragonlords to marry brother to sister to keep the blood pure, but Aegon took both sisters to wife. By tradition, he would only have had to marry his older sister Visenya; Taking Rhaenys as a second wife was unusual, if not without historical precedent. Some said Aegon married Visenya out of duty, but Rhaenys because he desired her.

All three siblings had already proved themselves as Dragonlords before their wedding. Of the five dragons that had flown with Aenar the Exile to Dragonstone,only one lived in Aegon's days: the great beast Balerion the Black Dread. The other two, Vhagar and Meraxes, were younger and first hatched on Dragonstone.

Among the ignorant, is the myth that Aegon Targaryen never set foot on the continent's soil before the day he set sail to conquer Westeros, but this cannot be true. Years before this voyage, at Lord Aegon's behest, the painted panel had been carved and decorated: a huge wooden panel, about fifty feet long, in the shape of the landmass of Westeros, painted with all the forests and rivers and cities and castles of the Seven Kingdoms. Apparently, Aegon had long been interested in Westeros long before the events that drove him to war. There are also reliable accounts of a young Aegon and his sister Visenya's stay in the Citadel of Oldtown, as well as a visit to hawk on the Arbor as guests of Lord Rothweyn. He could have also visited Lannisport. Here contradict the sources.

In Aegon's youth, Westeros was divided into seven contentious kingdoms, and there were hardly times when two or three of these kingdoms did not wage war against each other. The wide, cold and stony north was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the deserts of Dorne, the word of the princes of the House Martell was law. The gold-rich Westerlands dominated by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the fertile expanse the Gardener of Highgarden. The Vale, the Fingers and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House Arryn. But the most wary kings of Aegon's times ruled the two kingdoms closest to Dragonstone - Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant.

From Storm’s End, the Storm Kings of House Durrandon once ruled the eastern half of Westeros from Eagle Cape to Crab Bay, but their power had been dwindling for centuries. The Kings of Reach had taken over areas in the west, the Dornish pressed them to the south, and Harren the Black and his Ironborn drove them away from the Trident and from the lands north of the Blackwater. King Argilac, the last Durrandon, was able to stop this decline for some time as a boy when turning back a Dornish invasion. Then he crossed the Narrow Sea, where he joined the great alliance against the "Tigers" of Volantis; Twenty years later he killed Garse VII, the King of the Reach, in the battle of Summerfield. But then age had caught up with Argilac: his famous black mane had turned gray and his strength in the fight had diminished.

North of the Blackwater, Harren the Back from House Hoare, the king of the Iron Islands and the Rivers, dominated the Riverlands with a bloody hand. Harren's grandfather Harwyn Hoare, an Ironborn, had taken over Trident from Argilac's grandfather Arrec, whose ancestors had cast down the last River King centuries before. Harren's father had extended his rule east to Duskendale and Rosby. Harren himself dedicated nearly forty years of his rule to building a huge castle on the God’s Eye, but as Harrenhal neared completion, the Ironborn were ready for new conquests.

No king in Westeros was more feared than Harren the Black, who was known in all Seven Kingdoms for his legendary cruelty. And no king in Westeros felt more threatened than Argilac the Storm King, the last Durrandon - an aging warrior whose sole heir was his virgin daughter. And so it came about that Argilac turned to the Targaryens on Dragonstone and offered Lord Aegon the hand of his daughter, with a dowry of all land east of the God's Eye from the Trident to the Blackwater.

Aegon Targaryen rejected the offer of the Storm King. He already has two wives, he explained, and do not need a third. In addition, the offered dowry of the lands had already been part of Harrenhal for over a generation, so Argilac could not give it away. Obviously, the aging Storm King wanted the Targaryens on the Blackwater to be a buffer between his own lands and those of Harrens the Black.

But the Lord of Dragonstone made him a counter offer. He would take the lands offered to him if Argilac additionally left him Massey's hook and the forests and plains south of the Blackwater to the Wendwater and the Manders. The pact was to be sealed by the marriage of Argilac's daughter to Orys Baratheon, Lord Aegon's knight and childhood friend.

Argilac angrily rejected this proposal. It was rumored that Orys Baratheon was an illegitimate half-brother of Lord Aegon of low birth. The Storm King did not want to dishonor his daughter by giving her hand to a bastard. But the suggestion angered him beyond measure. Argilac cut off the hands of Aegon’s messenger and sent them back to him in a box. "These are the only hands your bastard will get from me," he wrote.

Aegon did not answer. Instead, he called his friends, vassals, and allies to Dragonstone. Their numbers was small. The Velaryons of Driftmark were bound by oath to House Targaryen, as well as the Celtigars of Claw Isle. From Massey's Hook came Lord Bar Emmon of Sharp Point and Lord Massey of Stonedance, both of whom were bound to Storm’s End by oath, but had closer ties to Dragonstone. Lord Aegon and his sisters conferred with them and even visited the castle sept together to pray to the Faith of the Seven, though Aegon had not been known for his piety until then.

On the seventh day, a flock of ravens flew from Dragonstone's towers, carrying Lord Aegon's word into the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. The birds flew to the Seven Kings, to the Citadel of Oldtown, to lords large and small. All of them carried the same message: From that day on, there would only be one king in Westeros. Anyone who would bend the knee to Aegon Targaryen will keep his lands and titles. Those who raise arms against him will be cast down, humiliated and destroyed.

The reports of the number of men that started with Aegon and his sisters on Dragonstone are contradictory. Some call three thousand, others count only hundreds. This modest Targaryen army landed at the mouth of the Black Water, on the north shore, where three wooded hills rose above a small fishing village.

In the days of the One Hundred Kingdoms, many petty kings had claimed control of the estuary, including the Darklyns of Duskendale, the Masseys of Stonedance and the Ancient River Kings, whether Mud, Fisher, Bracken, Blackwood or Hook. Time and again, towers and festivals crowned the three hills, only to be destroyed in this or that war afterwards. Now only broken stones and overgrown ruins welcomed the Targaryens. Although both Storm’s End and Harrenhal claimed the estuary, it was not defended, and the next castles were held by lesser lords without great power or military strength, and Lords, who had little reason to love their lord, Harren the Black.

Aegon Targaryen fortified the highest hill with a wood and earth palisade and sent his sisters to subjugate the neighboring castles. Rosby surrendered to Rhaenys and her gold eyed Meraxes without a fight. At Stokeworth, some crossbowmen shot bolts at Visenya until Vhagar's flames set fire to the roofs of the castle. After that, they also surrendered.

The first real challenge for the Conqueror was represented by Lord Darklyn of Duskendale and Lord Muton of Maidenpool, who banded together and marched southward with three thousand men to throw the invaders back into the sea. Aegon dispatched Orys Baratheon, who was supposed to ambush her while he was on the move, while he himself plunged from the air with the Black Dread. Both Lords fell in unequal battle. Then Lord Darklyn’s son and Muton's brother handed over their castles and swore their swords House Targaryen. At that time, Duskendale was the most important port of Westeros on the Narrow Sea and rich in trade. Visenya Targaryen forbade the plunder of the city, but did not hesitate to claim its riches, which filled the conquerors' chests.

This passage might be worth a few words about the different characters of Aegon Targaryen’s his sister-wives and queens.

Visenya, the eldest of the three, was as ferocious a warrior as Aegon himself, and felt as much at home in a chain mail as in silk. She wore a Valyrian steel longsword, Dark Sister, whom she could handle with great expertise because she had been practicing weapons with her brother since early childhood. Although she was blessed with the silver-gold hair and violet eyes of Valyria, her beauty was rather harsh. Even those who loved her described Visenya as stern, serious and vindictive. Some even said that she played around with poisons and was involved with dark magic.

Rhaenys, the youngest of the three, embodied the exact opposite of her sister. She was playful, curious, impulsive, and was fond of reverie. Rhaenys was not a true warrior, but she loved music, dance and poetry and supported singers, mimes and puppeteers. Still, it is said that Rhaenys spent more time on the back of her dragon than her brother and sister together, because she loved flying over everything. Once she is said to have said that before she died, she wanted to fly to Meraxes over the Sunset Sea to see what lay on its west coast. While no one ever questioned Visenya's loyalty to her brother's consort, Rhaenys surrounded himself with handsome young men and, it was whispered, had fun in bed with some of them when Aegon spent the night with her older sister. Despite these rumors, observers at court did not fail to notice that for every night Aegon spent with Visenya, he spent ten with Rhaenys.

Strangely enough, Aegon Targaryen himself was just as much a mystery to his contemporaries as he is to us. He was one of the greatest warriors of his time and wielded Blackfyre, a blade of Valyrian steel. Nevertheless, he had not much love for weapon acts and rode neither in the tournament, nor he fought in buhurt. His dragon was Balerion the Black Dread, but he only rode it for battle or to travel over land and sea. Thanks to his commanding manner, he found it easy to gather men to his banners, but apart from Orys Baratheon, the companion of his youth, he had no close friends. Women were attracted to him, but Aegon remained faithful to his sister-wives. As a king, he entrusted many tasks to his Small Council and his sisters, leaving them with much of the day-to-day affairs of government, but he did not hesitate to take matters into his own hands whenever he thought necessary. He went to court with rebels and traitors, but he was always generous to former enemies who bent the knee.

He proved this for the first time in the Aegonfort, the simple wooden and earth ramp he had erected on the mountain, which was now to be called Aegon's High Hill. After taking a dozen castles and securing the mouth of the Blackwater on both shores, he commanded the defeated lords to his side. They laid their swords at his feet, but Aegon helped them up and confirmed them in their lands and titles. He gave his oldest followers new honors. Daemon Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, called him Master of the Ships and gave him command of the Royal Fleet. Triston Massey, Lord of Stonedance, was appointed Master of Laws, Crispian Celtigar the Master of Coin. And he called Orys Baratheon "my faithful shield and retainer, my strong, right-hand man." Therefore, Orys Baratheon is considered the first Hand of the King.

Coat of arms had long been a tradition among the Lords of Westeros, but the Ancient Lords of Valyria had never used such a thing. When Aegon's knights unrolled his great battle standard of silk, showing a red, fire-breathing dragon with three heads on a black background, the lords took this as a sign that he had truly become one of their own, a worthy High King of Westeros. When Queen Visenya set her brother a ruby-studded Valyrian steel hoop on his head and Queen Rhaenys proclaimed him as "Aegon, the first of His name, King of all Westeros and Shield of His people," the dragons roared, and the lords and knights cheered ... but the loudest among them were the fishermen and field workers and women.

Only the seven kings Aegon intended to dethrone the dragon did not rejoice. In Harrenhal and Storm’s End, Harren the Black and Argilac, who had already called the arrogant, called the banners. In the west, King Mern rode from the Reach up the Ocean Road northward to Casterly Rock, to meet King Loren of House Lannister. The Princess of Dorne sent a raven to Dragonstone and offered support to Aegon in the fight against Argilac the Storm King ... but as an equal ally, not a subject. Another alliance offer came from the child king of the Vale, Ronnel Arryn, whose mother offered to support Aegon against Harren the Black, and in return demanded all lands east of the Green Fork of the Trident. Even in the north, King Torrhen Stark of Winterfell sat with his lords and advisors late into the night and discussed how to deal with this would-be conqueror. The whole kingdom was anxiously awaited Aegon's next move.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

hello my fave Blackfyre stan, usually in fic every man from house Blackfyre is called daemon (which is understandable). but what other names do think are popular among Daemon’s descendants for both male and female? sorta like the name aegon for targs ? I imagine Rohanne and Daena among them.

Hello, anon!

So the number of canonical Blackfyre names can be counted on two hands (Daemon, Rohanne, Calla, Aemon, Aegon, Haegon, Aenys, Maelys) and the number of unique Blackfyre names can be counted on one. I imagine that Maelys like Maegor became sort of an “infamous name” that nobody used before or since. I also wrote a headcanon about how Haegon named his second son after Aegor Rivers, but that the name fell out of favor due to the younger Aegor’s premature death, in addition to being nonsense in actual Valyrian (which seems to be the lingua franca in that part of Essos, so nobody Valyrian would give their son such a knockoff name); however, at least in the early generations, I could see the non-Valyrians of the Golden Company naming their sons Aegor. Among Daemon’s sons, Haegon is probably the one who most likely has a namesake, considering he lead the most diverse and successful army among the Blackfyres. Aegon and Aemon might be used for those trying to assert their Valyrian Targaryen heritage (although wanting to do so probably faded after the third generation due to assimilation and growing hatred toward Targaryens). I can believe some of the more creative-but-still-traditional Blackfyres chose Daemion, which is similar to Daemon and reflects his maternal lineage (Daemion Velaryon being the uncle of Daemon’s grandmother Daenaera). Then as the Blackfyre descendants assimilated into Tyroshi or Golden Company culture, the names generally dropped their Valyrian-Targaryen flavor; the names of the Golden Company Blackfyre descendants could be generic Westerosi names like Jon, Will, Ben, Addam, and perhaps Damon and Denys. Those who adhered more to Tyroshi heritage obviously got Tyroshi names, such as Roro (resembles Rohanne), Collio (resembles Calla), or even Daario. There aren’t a lot of canonical Tyroshi names, so for headcanon purposes I invented some. Of course, this is probably after the surname died out, so none of them would be “Jon Blackfyre” or “Roro Blackfyre”.

Regarding female names, I don’t like using Targaryen names for female Blackfyres. For me, Rohanne made a statement in giving her daughter Calla (who I’m sure also has namesakes) a name from her own culture, and I like to follow her example; that’s why when choosing names for her and Daemon’s other daughters I went for Larra and Alyssa, who were important Targaryen consorts but whose names weren’t Targaryen-Valyrian (as well as both of them having important parallels to Rohanne). Some other non-Valyrian consort names that could be used are Elinor, Alysanne, and Hazel. Roxana (which I���ve thought might’ve been Rohanne’s original name) and Rosanna are the variations of Rohanne I think could’ve been used. Same rules apply with female names after having integrated more into Tyroshi or Golden Company’s generic Westerosi culture: names like Emma, Beth, Rose, Danna or Lanna, some of which tie back to Targaryen ancestors. There are even fewer female Tyroshi names than male ones, so you pretty much have to invent them, unless you want to borrow Myrish or Lysene names, or even Ghiscari ones (since show!canon made Calla a Meereeneese Master’s daughter). Depending on whether they hold to any Valyrian heritage, you might see some Essosi Valyrian names like Taena.

I’ve pretty much given away my headcanons for the names of the three known Blackfyre generations. I just think that aside from making the name Daemon their own, not having practiced brother-sister marriage meant that Targaryen-Valyrian names would’ve fallen out of favor for the boys, and was never in favor for the girls. The wives and husbands of the Blackfyre children doubtless had input on the names, which would’ve reflected their own (Essosi or Westerosi expatriate) culture.

[sebeth]

Fire And Blood: Aegon (pre-Conquest)

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

  I started my re-read of the entire “Song of Ice and Fire” saga with “The World of Ice and Fire” book.  I’m at Aegon’s Conquest in the World of Ice and Fire which is also the beginning of “Fire and Blood”. So I’m going to bounce back and forth between the two books to cover the events from Aegon’s Conquest to the Regency of Aegon III (the Dragonbane).

The World of Ice and Fire was written by Maester Yandel and Fire and Blood was authored by Archmaester Gyldayn.

Yandel’s tome was a gift for the Baratheon kings while Gyldayn’s book is a history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

“Aegon’s Conquest” contains material I’ve covered in the “World of Ice And Fire” so a quick recap:

·         Dates in Westeros or AC (After the Conquest” or BC (Before the Conquest).

·         Such dating is imprecise as there is no specific ending date for the Wars of Conquest.

·         Aegon the Conqueror dated the start of his reign from “the day he was crowned and anointed” and not the day he began his conquest two years earlier.

·         Most of the actual Conquest took place in 2 – 1 BC.

·         Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization.

·         Dozens of rival houses “vied for power and glory in court and council”.

·         The Targaryens were pure-blooded Valyrian dragon lords of an ancient lineage but far from the most powerful of the lords.

·         Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC), Daenys “the Dreamer” Targaryen had a dream that foretold the destruction of Valyria.

·         Aenar Targaryen, the father of Daenys, sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of Long Summer, gathered all “his wives, wealth, slaves, dragons, siblings, kin, and children” and moved to Dragonstone, an island off the coast of Westeros.

·         Dragonstone had been the “westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries”. The Targaryens along with the Velaryons of Driftmark and the Celtigars of Claw Isle (two Valyrian houses of lesser descent) used Dragonstone to dominate the trade traffic of the middle reaches of the Narrow Sea.

Did Aenar forewarn anyone else of the upcoming destruction of Valyria? Was he doomed to be a Cassandra-type figure – warning of destruction only to be ignored? Or did he simply not care and used the future destruction of Valyria as the most ruthless move in the “game of thrones” ever?

Were the Velaryons and the Celtigars located on Driftmark and Claw Isle before the Aenar’s migration of did they arrive with him?

Back to the recap:

·         The hundred years after the Doom of Valyria is called the Century of Blood. House Targaryen ignored Westeros.

House Targaryen’s leadership during the Century of Blood was as follows:

1.       Aenar “the Exile” Targaryen

2.       Gaemon “the Glorious” Targaryen & Daenys “the Dreamer” Targaryen (Aenar’s children)

3.       Aegon & Elaena Targaryen (Gaemon & Daenys’ children)

4.       Maegon Targaryen (Aegon & Elaena’s son)

5.       Aerys Targaryen (Aegon & Elaena’s son)

6.       Aelyx Targaryen (Aerys’s son)

7.       Baelon Targaryen (Aery’s son)

8.       Daemion Targaryen (Aery’s son)

9.       Aerion Targaryen (Daemion’s son)

Aerion would wed Lady Valaena Velaryon, who was half-Targaryen on her mother’s side. They would have three children: Visenya, Aegon, and Rhaenys.

Aegon wed his elder sibling, Visenya, as custom dictated, and Rhaenys, his youngest sibling, because he felt like it.

“The custom amongst the dragonlords of Valyria to wed brother to sister to keep the bloodlines pure.” I understand the reason for the post-Doom inbreeding (lack of Valyrian options) but why was it the custom pre-Doom? Wouldn’t another non-related pure-blooded Valyrian dragon lord work as well as a sibling minus the nasty inbreeding aspects? Was it really a custom in Valyria or was it simply a falsehood stated by the Targaryens to justify the ongoing sibling marriages?

 ·         Only one of the five dragons that accompanied Aenar to Dragonstone survived to the beginning of the Conquest: Balerion the Black Dread. Vhagar and Meraxes hatched on Dragonstone.

·         A common myth states Aegon never stepped foot on Westeros before the Conquest but it is untrue. There are reports of Aegon and Visenya visiting the Citadel of Oldtown and as guests of Lord Redwyne on the Arbor. Aegon may have visited Lannisport as well.

Up next, a recap of the Seven Kingdoms pre-Conquest and the differences between Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaenys.