the-world-of-ice---fire - GOT - Estudos Artísticos (2024)

Prévia do material em texto

<p>illustration credit 1</p><p>illustration credit 2</p><p>The World of Ice & Fire is a work of �ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either</p><p>are the product of the author’s imagination or are used �ctitiously. Any resemblance to</p><p>actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.</p><p>Copyright © 2014 by George R. R. Martin</p><p>Images on 2.31, 3.67, 3.82, 5.92, 5.118, 5.122, 5.146, 5.157, and 6.182 are © Fantasy Flight</p><p>Publishing, Inc.</p><p>All rights reserved.</p><p>Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division</p><p>of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.</p><p>BANTAM BOOKS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.</p><p>LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA</p><p>Martin, George R. R.</p><p>The World of Ice & Fire : the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones / George</p><p>R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia, and Linda Antonsson.</p><p>pages cm — (A song of ice and �re)</p><p>Includes index.</p><p>ISBN 978-0-553-80544-4</p><p>eBook ISBN 978-0-345-53555-9</p><p>1. Martin, George R. R. Song of ice and �re. 2. Game of thrones (Television program)</p><p>I. Garcia, Elio. II. Antonsson, Linda. III. Title.</p><p>PS3563.A7239S5936 2014</p><p>813’.6—dc232014013093</p><p>www.bantamdell.com</p><p>Book design by Rosebud Eustace</p><p>v3.1</p><p>http://www.bantamdell.com/</p><p>Storm’s End. (illustration credit 3)</p><p>Cover</p><p>Title Page</p><p>Copyright</p><p>A Note About this eBook</p><p>Preface</p><p>ANCIENT HISTORY</p><p>The Dawn Age</p><p>The Coming of the First Men</p><p>The Age of Heroes</p><p>The Long Night</p><p>The Rise of Valyria</p><p>Valyria’s Children</p><p>The Arrival of the Andals</p><p>Ten Thousand Ships</p><p>The Doom of Valyria</p><p>THE REIGN OF THE DRAGONS</p><p>The Conquest</p><p>THE TARGARYEN KINGS</p><p>Aegon I</p><p>Aenys I</p><p>Maegor I</p><p>Jaehaerys I</p><p>Viserys I</p><p>Aegon II</p><p>Aegon III</p><p>Daeron I</p><p>Baelor I</p><p>Viserys II</p><p>Aegon IV</p><p>Daeron II</p><p>Aerys I</p><p>Maekar I</p><p>Aegon V</p><p>Jaehaerys II</p><p>Aerys II</p><p>file:///tmp/calibre_4.15.0_tmp_PyC2tE/XGh03B_pdf_out/titlepage.xhtml</p><p>illustration credit 4</p><p>THE FALL OF THE DRAGONS</p><p>The Year of the False Spring</p><p>Robert’s Rebellion</p><p>The End</p><p>THE GLORIOUS REIGN</p><p>THE SEVEN KINGDOMS</p><p>The North</p><p>The Kings of Winter</p><p>The Mountain Clans</p><p>The Stoneborn of Skagos</p><p>The Crannogmen of the Neck</p><p>The Lords of Winterfell</p><p>Winterfell</p><p>The Wall and Beyond</p><p>The Night’s Watch</p><p>The Wildlings</p><p>The Riverlands</p><p>House Tully</p><p>Riverrun</p><p>The Vale</p><p>House Arryn</p><p>The Eyrie</p><p>The Iron Islands</p><p>Driftwood Crowns</p><p>The Iron Kings</p><p>The Black Blood</p><p>The Greyjoys of Pyke</p><p>The Red Kraken</p><p>The Old Way and the New</p><p>Pyke</p><p>The Westerlands</p><p>House Lannister Under the Dragons</p><p>Casterly Rock</p><p>The Reach</p><p>Garth Greenhand</p><p>The Gardener Kings</p><p>Andals in the Reach</p><p>Oldtown</p><p>House Tyrell</p><p>Highgarden</p><p>The Stormlands</p><p>The Coming of the First Men</p><p>House Durrandon</p><p>Andals in the Stormlands</p><p>House Baratheon</p><p>The Men of the Stormlands</p><p>Storm’s End</p><p>Dorne</p><p>The Breaking</p><p>Kingdoms of the First Men</p><p>The Andals Arrive</p><p>The Coming of the Rhoynar</p><p>Queer Customs of the South</p><p>Dorne Against the Dragons</p><p>Sunspear</p><p>illustration credit 5</p><p>BEYOND THE SUNSET KINGDOM</p><p>Other Lands</p><p>The Free Cities</p><p>Lorath</p><p>Norvos</p><p>Qohor</p><p>The Quarrelsome Daughters: Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh</p><p>Pentos</p><p>Volantis</p><p>Braavos</p><p>Beyond the Free Cities</p><p>The Summer Isles</p><p>Naath</p><p>The Basilisk Isles</p><p>Sothoryos</p><p>The Grasslands</p><p>The Shivering Sea</p><p>Ib</p><p>East of Ib</p><p>The Bones and Beyond</p><p>Yi Ti</p><p>The Plains of the Jogos Nhai</p><p>Leng</p><p>Asshai-by-the-Shadow</p><p>Afterword</p><p>Appendix: Targaryen Lineage</p><p>Appendix: Stark Lineage</p><p>Appendix: Lannister Lineage</p><p>Appendix: Reign of the Kings</p><p>Art Credits</p><p>A Note About this eBook</p><p>Double-tap or pinch to zoom in on images throughout the eBook.</p><p>illustration credit 6</p><p>IT IS SAID with truth that every building is constructed stone by</p><p>stone, and the same may be said of knowledge, extracted and</p><p>compiled by many learned men, each of whom builds upon the</p><p>works of those who preceded him. What one of them does not know</p><p>is known to another, and little remains truly unknown if one seeks</p><p>far enough. Now I, Maester Yandel, take my turn as mason, carving</p><p>what I know to place one more stone in the great bastion of</p><p>knowledge that has been built over the centuries both within and</p><p>without the con�nes of the Citadel—a bastion raised by countless</p><p>hands that came before, and which will, no doubt, continue to rise</p><p>with the aid of countless hands yet to come.</p><p>I was a foundling from my birth in the tenth year of the reign of</p><p>the last Targaryen king, left on a morning in an empty stall in the</p><p>Scribe’s Hearth, where acolytes practiced the art of letters for those</p><p>who had need. The course of my life was set that day, when I was</p><p>found by an acolyte who took me to the Seneschal of that year,</p><p>Archmaester Edgerran. Edgerran, whose ring and rod and mask</p><p>were silver, looked upon my squalling face and announced that I</p><p>might prove of use. When �rst told this as a boy, I took it to mean</p><p>he foresaw my destiny as a maester; only much later did I come to</p><p>learn from Archmaester Ebrose that Edgerran was writing a treatise</p><p>on the swaddling of infants and wished to test certain theories.</p><p>But inauspicious as that may seem, the result was that I was</p><p>given to the care of servants and received the occasional attention</p><p>of maesters. I was raised as a servant myself amongst the halls and</p><p>chambers and libraries, but I was given the gift of letters by</p><p>Archmaester Walgrave. Thus did I come to know and love the</p><p>Citadel and the knights of the mind who guarded its precious</p><p>wisdom. I desired nothing more than to become one of them—to</p><p>read of far places and long-dead men, to gaze at the stars and</p><p>measure the passing of the seasons.</p><p>And so I did. I forged the �rst link in my chain at three-and-ten,</p><p>and other links followed. I completed my chain and took my oaths</p><p>in the ninth year of the reign of King Robert, the First of His Name,</p><p>and found myself blessed to continue at the Citadel, to serve the</p><p>archmaesters and aid them in all that they did. It was a great honor,</p><p>but my greatest desire was to create a work of mine own, a work</p><p>that humble but lettered men might read—and read to their wives</p><p>and children—so that they would learn of things both good and</p><p>wicked, just and unjust, great and small, and grow wiser as I had</p><p>grown wiser amidst the learning of the Citadel. And so I set myself</p><p>to work once more at my forge, to make new and notable matter</p><p>around the masterworks of the long-dead maesters who came before</p><p>me. What follows herein sprang from that desire: a history of deeds</p><p>gallant and wicked, peoples familiar and strange, and lands near</p><p>and far.</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror upon Balerion, the Black Dread. (illustration credit 7)</p><p>Constructing the Wall. (illustration credit 8)</p><p>illustration credit 9</p><p>THE DAWN AGE</p><p>THERE ARE NONE who can say with certain knowledge when the</p><p>world began, yet this has not stopped many maesters and learned</p><p>men from seeking the answer. Is it forty thousand years old, as</p><p>some hold, or perhaps a number as large as �ve hundred thousand</p><p>—or even more? It is not written in any book that we know, for in</p><p>the �rst age of the world, the Dawn Age, men were not lettered.</p><p>We can be certain that the world was far more primitive,</p><p>however—a barbarous place of tribes living directly from the land</p><p>with no knowledge of the working of metal or the taming of beasts.</p><p>What little is known to us of those days is contained in the oldest of</p><p>texts: the tales written down by the Andals, by the Valyrians, and</p><p>by the Ghiscari, and even by those distant people of fabled Asshai.</p><p>Yet however ancient those lettered races, they were not even</p><p>children during the Dawn Age. So what truths their tales contain are</p><p>di�cult to �nd, like seeds among cha�.</p><p>What can most accurately be told about the Dawn Age? The</p><p>eastern lands were awash with many peoples—uncivilized, as all the</p><p>world was uncivilized, but numerous. But on Westeros, from the</p><p>Lands of Always Winter to the shores of the Summer Sea, only two</p><p>peoples existed: the children of the forest and the race of creatures</p><p>known as the giants.</p><p>Of the giants in the Dawn Age, little and less can be said, for no</p><p>one has gathered their tales, their legends, their histories. Men of</p><p>the Watch say the wildlings have</p><p>As</p><p>well, thousands who had been boys when �eeing the Rhoyne had</p><p>grown into manhood and taken up the spear during their years of</p><p>wandering. By joining with the newcomers, the Martells increased</p><p>the size of their host by tenfold.</p><p>When Mors Martell took Nymeria to wife, hundreds of his</p><p>knights, squires, and lords bannermen also wed Rhoynish women,</p><p>and many of those who were already wed took them for their</p><p>paramours. Thus were the two peoples united by blood. These</p><p>unions enriched and strengthened House Martell and its Dornish</p><p>allies. The Rhoynar brought considerable wealth with them; their</p><p>artisans, metalworkers, and stonemasons brought skills far in</p><p>advance of those achieved by their Westerosi counterparts, and</p><p>their armorers were soon producing swords and spears and suits of</p><p>scale and plate no Westerosi smith could hope to match. Even more</p><p>crucially, it is said the Rhoynish water witches knew secret spells</p><p>that made dry streams �ow again and deserts bloom.</p><p>To celebrate these unions, and make certain her people could not</p><p>again retreat to the sea, Nymeria burned the Rhoynish ships. “Our</p><p>wanderings are at an end,” she declared. “We have found a new</p><p>home, and here we shall live and die.”</p><p>(Some of the Rhoynar mourned the loss of the ships, and rather</p><p>than embracing their new land, they took to plying the waters of</p><p>the Greenblood, �nding it a pale shadow of Mother Rhoyne, whom</p><p>they continued to worship. They still exist to this day, known as the</p><p>orphans of the Greenblood).</p><p>The �ames lit the coast for �fty leagues as hundreds of leaking,</p><p>listing hulks were put to the torch and turned to ash; in the light of</p><p>their burning, Princess Nymeria named Mors Martell the Prince of</p><p>Dorne, in the Rhoynish style, asserting his dominion over “the red</p><p>sands and the white, and all the lands and rivers from the mountains</p><p>to the great salt sea.”</p><p>Such supremacy was easier to declare than to achieve, however.</p><p>Years of war followed, as the Martells and their Rhoynar partners</p><p>met and subdued one petty king after another. No fewer than six</p><p>conquered kings were sent to the Wall in golden fetters by Nymeria</p><p>and her prince, until only the greatest of their foes remained: Yorick</p><p>Yronwood, the Bloodroyal, Fifth of His Name, Lord of Yronwood,</p><p>Warden of the Stone Way, Knight of the Wells, King of Redmarch,</p><p>King of the Greenbelt, and King of the Dornish.</p><p>For nine years Mors Martell and his allies (amongst them House</p><p>Fowler of Skyreach, House Toland of Ghost Hill, House Dayne of</p><p>Starfall, and House Uller of the Hellholt) struggled against</p><p>Yronwood and his bannermen (the Jordaynes of the Tor, the Wyls</p><p>of the Stone Way, together with the Blackmonts, the Qorgyles, and</p><p>many more), in battles too numerous to mention. When Mors</p><p>Martell fell to Yorick Yronwood’s sword in the Third Battle of the</p><p>Boneway, Princess Nymeria assumed sole command of his armies.</p><p>Two more years of battle were required, but in the end it was</p><p>Nymeria that Yorick Yronwood bent the knee to, and Nymeria who</p><p>ruled thereafter from Sunspear.</p><p>Though she married twice more (�rst to the aged Lord Uller of</p><p>Hellholt, and later to the dashing Ser Davos Dayne of Starfall, the</p><p>Sword of the Morning), Nymeria herself remained the unquestioned</p><p>ruler of Dorne for almost twenty-seven years, her husbands serving</p><p>only as counselors and consorts. She survived a dozen attempts</p><p>upon her life, put down two rebellions, and threw back two</p><p>invasions by the Storm King Durran the Third and one by King</p><p>Greydon of the Reach.</p><p>When at last she died, it was the eldest of her four daughters by</p><p>Mors Martell who succeeded her, not her son by Davos Dayne, for</p><p>by then the Dornish had come to adopt many of the laws and</p><p>customs of the Rhoynar, though the memories of Mother Rhoyne</p><p>and the ten thousand ships were fading into legend.</p><p>THE DOOM OF VALYRIA</p><p>WITH THE DESTRUCTION of the Rhoynar, Valyria soon achieved</p><p>complete domination of the western half of Essos, from the narrow</p><p>sea to Slaver’s Bay, and from the Summer Sea to the Shivering Sea.</p><p>Slaves poured into the Freehold and were quickly dispatched</p><p>beneath the Fourteen Flames to mine the precious gold and silver</p><p>the freeholders loved so well. Perhaps in preparation for their</p><p>crossing of the narrow sea, the Valyrians also established their</p><p>westernmost outpost on the isle that would come to be known as</p><p>Dragonstone some two hundred years before the Doom. No king</p><p>opposed them—and though the local lords of the narrow sea made</p><p>some e�ort to resist it, the strength of Valyria was too great. With</p><p>their arcane arts, the Valyrians raised the Citadel at Dragonstone.</p><p>Two centuries passed—centuries in which the coveted Valyrian</p><p>steel began to trickle into the Seven Kingdoms more swiftly than</p><p>before—though not swiftly enough for all the lords and kings who</p><p>desired it. And although the sight of a dragonlord �ying high above</p><p>Blackwater Bay was not unknown, it occurred more frequently as</p><p>time passed. Valyria felt its outpost was secured, and the</p><p>dragonlords thus continued their schemes and intrigues on their</p><p>native continent.</p><p>And then, unexpected to all (save perhaps Aenar Targaryen and</p><p>his maiden daughter Daenys the Dreamer), the Doom came to</p><p>Valyria.</p><p>To this day, no one knows what caused the Doom. Most say that</p><p>it was a natural cataclysm—a catastrophic explosion caused by the</p><p>eruption of all Fourteen Flames together. Some septons, less wise,</p><p>claim that the Valyrians brought the disaster on themselves for their</p><p>promiscuous belief in a hundred gods and more, and in their</p><p>godlessness they delved too deep and unleashed the �res of the</p><p>Seven hells on the Freehold. A handful of maesters, in�uenced by</p><p>fragments of the work of Septon Barth, hold that Valyria had used</p><p>spells to tame the Fourteen Flames for thousands of years, that their</p><p>ceaseless hunger for slaves and wealth was as much to sustain these</p><p>spells as to expand their power, and that when at last those spells</p><p>faltered, the cataclysm became inevitable.</p><p>Of these, some argue that it was the curse of Garin the Great at</p><p>last coming to fruition. Others speak of the priests of R’hllor calling</p><p>down the �re of their god in queer rituals. Some, wedding the</p><p>fanciful notion of Valyrian magic to the reality of the ambitious</p><p>great houses of Valyria, have argued that it was the constant whirl</p><p>of con�ict and deception amongst the great houses that might have</p><p>led to the assassinations of too many of the reputed mages who</p><p>renewed and maintained the rituals that banked the �res of the</p><p>Fourteen Flames.</p><p>The one thing that can be said for certain is that it was a</p><p>cataclysm such as the world had never seen. The ancient, mighty</p><p>Freehold—home to dragons and to sorcerers of unrivaled skill—was</p><p>shattered and destroyed within hours. It was written that every hill</p><p>for �ve hundred miles split asunder to �ll the air with ash and</p><p>smoke and �re so hot and hungry that even the dragons in the sky</p><p>were engulfed and consumed. Great rents opened in the earth,</p><p>swallowing palaces, temples, and entire towns. Lakes boiled or</p><p>turned to acid, mountains burst, �ery fountains spewed molten rock</p><p>a thousand feet into the air, and red clouds rained down dragonglass</p><p>and the black blood of demons. To the north, the ground splintered</p><p>and collapsed and fell in on itself, and an angry sea came boiling in.</p><p>The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, the</p><p>fabled empire vanished in a day. The Lands of the Long Summer—</p><p>once the most fertile in all the world—were scorched and drowned</p><p>and blighted, and the toll in blood would not be fully realized for a</p><p>century to come.</p><p>What followed in the sudden vacuum was chaos. The dragonlords</p><p>had been gathered in Valyria as was their wont…except for Aenar</p><p>Targaryen, his children, and his dragons, who had �ed to</p><p>Dragonstone and so escaped the Doom. Some accounts claim that a</p><p>few others survived, too…for a time. It is said that some Valyrian</p><p>dragonlords in Tyrosh and Lys were spared, but that in the</p><p>immediate political upheaval following the Doom, they and their</p><p>dragons were killed by the citizens</p><p>of those Free Cities. The</p><p>histories of Qohor likewise claim that a visiting dragonlord, Aurion,</p><p>raised forces from the Qohorik colonists and proclaimed himself the</p><p>�rst Emperor of Valyria. He �ew away on the back of his great</p><p>dragon, with thirty thousand men following behind afoot, to lay</p><p>claim to what remained of Valyria and to reestablish the Freehold.</p><p>But neither Emperor Aurion nor his host were ever seen again.</p><p>The time of the dragons in Essos was at an end.</p><p>Volantis, the mightiest of the Free Cities, quickly laid claim to</p><p>Valyria’s mantle. Men and women of noble Valyrian blood, though</p><p>not dragonlords, called for war upon the other cities. The tigers, as</p><p>those who advocated conquest came to be known, led Volantis into</p><p>a great con�ict with the other Free Cities. They had great success at</p><p>�rst, their �eets and armies controlling Lys and Myr and</p><p>commanding the southern reaches of the Rhoyne. It was only when</p><p>they overreached and attempted to seize Tyrosh, as well, that their</p><p>burgeoning empire collapsed. Unnerved by the Volantene</p><p>aggression, Pentos joined the Tyroshi in resistance, Myr and Lys</p><p>rebelled, and the Sealord of Braavos provided a �eet of a hundred</p><p>ships to aid Lys. Also, the Westerosi Storm King, Argilac the</p><p>Arrogant, led a host into the Disputed Lands—in return for the</p><p>promise of gold and glory—that defeated a Volantene host</p><p>attempting to retake Myr.</p><p>In the wake of all the con�icts, and the struggles that</p><p>continue to this day over the Disputed Lands, the plague of</p><p>the Free Companies was born and took root. At �rst, these</p><p>bands of sellswords merely fought for whoever paid them.</p><p>But there are those who say that, whenever peace</p><p>threatened, the captains of these Free Companies acted to</p><p>instigate new wars to sustain themselves, and so grew fat</p><p>on the spoils.</p><p>Near the end, even the future Conqueror, the still-young Aegon</p><p>Targaryen, became involved in the struggle. His ancestors had long</p><p>looked east, but his attention from an early age had been turned</p><p>westward. Still, when Pentos and Tyrosh approached him, inviting</p><p>him to join a grand alliance against Volantis, he listened. And for</p><p>reasons unknown to this day, he chose to heed their call … to a</p><p>point. Mounting the Black Dread, it is said that he �ew to the east,</p><p>meeting with the Prince of Pentos and the magisters of the Free</p><p>City, and from there �ew Balerion to Lys in time to set ablaze a</p><p>Volantene �eet that was preparing to invade that Free City.</p><p>Volantis su�ered further defeats—at Dagger Lake, where the �re</p><p>galleys of Qohor and Norvos destroyed much of the Volantene �eet</p><p>that controlled the Rhoyne; and in the east when the Dothraki</p><p>began to swarm out of the Dothraki sea, leaving ruined towns and</p><p>cities in their wake as they fell on the weakened Volantis. At last,</p><p>the elephants—the Volantene faction who favored peace, and who</p><p>were largely drawn from the wealthy tradesmen and merchants</p><p>who su�ered most in the war—took power from the tigers, who</p><p>favored conquest, and put an end to the �ghting.</p><p>A dragon burning during the Doom. (illustration credit 24)</p><p>As for Aegon Targaryen, shortly after his role in defeating</p><p>Volantis it is written that he lost all interest in the a�airs of the</p><p>east. Believing Volantis’s rule at an end, he �ew back to</p><p>Dragonstone. And now, no longer distracted by the wars of Essos,</p><p>he turned his gaze west.</p><p>The Freehold of Valyria and its empire were destroyed by</p><p>the Doom, but the shattered peninsula remains. Strange</p><p>tales are told of it today, and of the demons that haunt the</p><p>Smoking Sea where the Fourteen Flames once stood. In</p><p>fact, the road that joins Volantis to Slaver’s Bay has</p><p>become known as the “demon road,” and is best avoided</p><p>by all sensible travelers. And men who have dared the</p><p>Smoking Sea do not return, as Volantis learned during the</p><p>Century of Blood when a �eet it sent to claim the peninsula</p><p>vanished. There are queer rumors of men living still among</p><p>the ruins of Valyria and its neighboring cities of Oros and</p><p>Tyria. Yet others dispute this, saying that the Doom still</p><p>holds Valyria in its grip.</p><p>A few of the cities away from the heart of Valyria</p><p>remain inhabited, however—places founded by the</p><p>Freehold or subject to it. The most sinister of these is</p><p>Mantarys, a place where the men are said to be born</p><p>twisted and monstrous; some attribute this to the city’s</p><p>presence on the demon road. The reputations of Tolos,</p><p>where the �nest slingers in the world can be found, and of</p><p>the city of Elyria on its isle, are less sinister, and less</p><p>noteworthy as well, for they have made ties to the Ghiscari</p><p>cities on Slaver’s Bay and otherwise avoid involvement in</p><p>any e�orts to reclaim the burning heart of Valyria.</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror upon Balerion, the Black Dread. (illustration credit 25)</p><p>Dragonstone. (illustration credit 26)</p><p>HERE FOLLOWS AN account of the reign of House Targaryen, from</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror to Aerys the Mad King. Many are the maesters</p><p>who have written on these matters, and the knowledge they have</p><p>fashioned informs much of what will follow. But in one thing, I</p><p>have taken a liberty: the account of Aegon’s Conquest is not my</p><p>own work but something lately discovered in the archives of the</p><p>Citadel, forgotten since the sad end of Aegon, the Fifth of His</p><p>Name. This fragment—part of a greater work that seemed intended</p><p>as a history of the Targaryen kings—was found gathering dust</p><p>among papers belonging to the Archmaester Gerold, the historian</p><p>whose writings on the history of Oldtown were well regarded in his</p><p>day. But it was not written by him. The style alone gives it away,</p><p>but certain notes found with these papers indicate they were written</p><p>by Archmaester Gyldayn, the last maester to serve at Summerhall</p><p>before its destruction in the reign of Aegon the Fortunate, the Fifth</p><p>of his Name, who may have sent them to Gerold for his</p><p>commentary and approval.</p><p>The history of the Conquest is as complete as any, and that is</p><p>why I have placed it here, so that—at last—more eyes than mine</p><p>and the late Archmaester Gerold’s may appreciate and learn from it.</p><p>There are other manuscripts by this same hand that I have</p><p>discovered, but many pages have been misplaced or destroyed, and</p><p>still others have been damaged by neglect and by �re. It may be</p><p>that one day, more will be found, and this lost masterwork will be</p><p>�t to be copied and bound, for what I have found has stirred great</p><p>excitement in the Citadel.</p><p>Until then, however, its fragments serve as one among many</p><p>sources for the reigns of the Targaryen kings, from the Conqueror</p><p>to the late Aerys II—the last Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne.</p><p>The Conquest</p><p>The maesters of the Citadel</p><p>who keep the histories of</p><p>Westeros have used Aegon’s</p><p>Conquest as their touchstone</p><p>for the past three hundred</p><p>years. Births, deaths, battles,</p><p>and other events are dated</p><p>either AC (After the Conquest)</p><p>or BC (Before the Conquest).</p><p>True scholars know that such dating is far from precise. Aegon</p><p>Targaryen’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms did not take place in a</p><p>single day. More than two years passed between Aegon’s landing</p><p>and his Oldtown coronation … and even then the Conquest</p><p>remained incomplete since Dorne remained unsubdued. Sporadic</p><p>attempts to bring the Dornishmen into the realm continued all</p><p>through King Aegon’s reign and well into the reigns of his sons,</p><p>making it impossible to �x a precise end date for the Wars of</p><p>Conquest.</p><p>Even the start date is a matter of some misconception. Many</p><p>assume, wrongly, that the reign of King Aegon I Targaryen began</p><p>on the day he landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, beneath</p><p>the three hills where the city of King’s Landing eventually stood.</p><p>Not so. The day of Aegon’s Landing was celebrated by the king and</p><p>his descendants, but the Conqueror actually dated the start of his</p><p>reign from the day he was crowned and anointed in the Starry Sept</p><p>of Oldtown by the High Septon of the Faith. This coronation took</p><p>place two years after Aegon’s Landing, well after all three of the</p><p>major battles of the Wars of Conquest had been fought and won.</p><p>Thus it can be seen</p><p>that most of Aegon’s actual conquering took</p><p>place from 2-1 BC, Before the Conquest.</p><p>The Targaryens were of pure Valyrian blood, dragonlords of</p><p>ancient lineage. Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC),</p><p>Aenar Targaryen sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of</p><p>the Long Summer and moved with all his wives, wealth, slaves,</p><p>dragons, siblings, kin, and children to Dragonstone, a bleak island</p><p>citadel beneath a smoking mountain in the narrow sea.</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror in battle. (illustration credit 27)</p><p>At its apex Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the</p><p>center of civilization. Within its shining walls, twoscore rival houses</p><p>vied for power and glory in court and council, rising and falling in</p><p>an endless, subtle, oft-savage struggle for dominance. The</p><p>Targaryens were far from the most powerful of the dragonlords,</p><p>and their rivals saw their �ight to Dragonstone as an act of</p><p>surrender, as cowardice. But Lord Aenar’s maiden daughter Daenys,</p><p>known forever afterward as Daenys the Dreamer, had foreseen the</p><p>destruction of Valyria by �re. And when the Doom came twelve</p><p>years later, the Targaryens were the only dragonlords to survive.</p><p>Dragonstone had been the westernmost outpost of Valyrian</p><p>power for two centuries. Its location athwart the Gullet gave its</p><p>lords a stranglehold on Blackwater Bay, and enabled both the</p><p>Targaryens and their close allies, the Velaryons of Driftmark (a</p><p>lesser house of Valyrian descent), to �ll their co�ers o� the passing</p><p>trade. Velaryon ships, along with those of another allied Valyrian</p><p>house, the Celtigars of Claw Isle, dominated the middle reaches of</p><p>the narrow sea, whilst the Targaryens ruled the skies with their</p><p>dragons.</p><p>Yet even so, for the best part of a hundred years after the Doom</p><p>of Valyria (the rightly named Century of Blood), House Targaryen</p><p>looked east, not west, and took little interest in the a�airs of</p><p>Westeros. Gaemon Targaryen, brother and husband to Daenys the</p><p>Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone, and</p><p>became known as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon’s son Aegon and</p><p>his daughter Elaena ruled together after his death. After them the</p><p>lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys’s</p><p>sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers</p><p>was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone.</p><p>The Aegon who is known to history as Aegon the Conqueror and</p><p>Aegon the Dragon was born on Dragonstone in 27 BC. He was the</p><p>only son, and second child, of Aerion, Lord of Dragonstone, and</p><p>Lady Valaena of House Velaryon, herself half-Targaryen on her</p><p>mother’s side. Aegon had two trueborn siblings; an elder sister,</p><p>Visenya, and a younger sister, Rhaenys. It had long been the custom</p><p>amongst the dragonlords of Valyria to wed brother to sister, to keep</p><p>the bloodlines pure, but Aegon took both his sisters to bride. By</p><p>tradition, he was expected to wed only his older sister, Visenya; the</p><p>inclusion of Rhaenys as a second wife was unusual, though not</p><p>without precedent. It was said by some that Aegon wed Visenya out</p><p>of duty and Rhaenys out of desire.</p><p>All three siblings had shown themselves to be dragonlords before</p><p>they wed. Of the �ve dragons who had �own with Aenar the Exile</p><p>from Valyria, only one survived to Aegon’s day: the great beast</p><p>called Balerion, the Black Dread. The remaining two dragons—</p><p>Vhagar and Meraxes—were younger, hatched on Dragonstone itself.</p><p>A common myth, oft heard amongst the ignorant, claims that</p><p>Aegon Targaryen had never set foot upon the soil of Westeros until</p><p>the day he set sail to conquer it, but this cannot be true. Years</p><p>before that voyage, the Painted Table had been carved and</p><p>decorated at Lord Aegon’s command: a massive slab of wood, some</p><p>�fty feet long, carved in the shape of Westeros and painted to show</p><p>all the woods and rivers and towns and castles of the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms. Plainly, Aegon’s interest in Westeros long predated the</p><p>events that drove him to war. As well, there are reliable reports of</p><p>Aegon and his sister Visenya visiting the Citadel of Oldtown in their</p><p>youth, and hawking on the Arbor as guests of Lord Redwyne. He</p><p>may have visited Lannisport as well; accounts di�er.</p><p>The Westeros of Aegon’s youth was divided into seven</p><p>quarrelsome kingdoms, and there was hardly a time when two or</p><p>three of these kingdoms were not at war with one another. The</p><p>vast, cold, stony North was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the</p><p>deserts of Dorne, the Martell princes held sway. The gold-rich</p><p>westerlands were ruled by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the</p><p>fertile Reach by the Gardeners of Highgarden. The Vale, the</p><p>Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House</p><p>Arryn … but the most belligerent kings of Aegon’s time were the</p><p>two whose realms lay closest to Dragonstone, Harren the Black and</p><p>Argilac the Arrogant.</p><p>From their great citadel Storm’s End, the Storm Kings of House</p><p>Durrandon had once ruled the eastern half of Westeros from Cape</p><p>Wrath to the Bay of Crabs, but their powers had been dwindling for</p><p>centuries. The Kings of the Reach had nibbled at their domains from</p><p>the west, the Dornishmen harassed them from the south, and Harren</p><p>the Black and his ironmen had pushed them from the Trident and</p><p>the lands north of the Blackwater Rush. King Argilac, last of the</p><p>Durrandon, had arrested this decline for a time, turning back a</p><p>Dornish invasion whilst still a boy, crossing the narrow sea to join</p><p>the great alliance against the imperialist “tigers” of Volantis, and</p><p>slaying Garse VII Gardener, King of the Reach, in the Battle of</p><p>Summer�eld twenty years later. But Argilac had grown older; his</p><p>famous mane of black hair had gone grey, and his prowess at arms</p><p>had faded.</p><p>North of the Blackwater, the riverlands were ruled by the bloody</p><p>hand of Harren the Black of House Hoare, King of the Isles and the</p><p>Rivers. Harren’s ironborn grandsire, Harwyn Hardhand, had taken</p><p>the Trident from Argilac’s grandsire, Arrec, whose own forebears</p><p>had thrown down the last of the river kings centuries earlier.</p><p>Harren’s father had extended his domains east to Duskendale and</p><p>Rosby. Harren himself had devoted most of his long reign, close on</p><p>forty years, to building a gigantic castle beside the Gods Eye, but</p><p>with Harrenhal at last nearing completion, the ironborn were soon</p><p>free to seek fresh conquests.</p><p>No king in Westeros was more feared than Black Harren, whose</p><p>cruelty had become legendary all through the Seven Kingdoms. And</p><p>no king in Westeros felt more threatened than Argilac the Storm</p><p>King, last of the Durrandon—an aging warrior whose only heir was</p><p>his maiden daughter. Thus it was that King Argilac reached out to</p><p>the Targaryens on Dragonstone, o�ering Lord Aegon his daughter in</p><p>marriage, with all the lands east of the Gods Eye from the Trident</p><p>to the Blackwater Rush as her dowry.</p><p>Aegon Targaryen spurned the Storm King’s proposal. He had two</p><p>wives, he pointed out; he did not need a third. And the dower lands</p><p>being o�ered had belonged to Harrenhal for more than a</p><p>generation. They were not Argilac’s to give. Plainly, the aging</p><p>Storm King meant to establish the Targaryens along the Blackwater</p><p>as a bu�er between his own lands and those of Harren the Black.</p><p>The Lord of Dragonstone countered with an o�er of his own. He</p><p>would take the dower lands being o�ered if Argilac would also cede</p><p>Massey’s Hook and the woods and plains from the Blackwater south</p><p>to the river Wendwater and the headwaters of the Mander. The pact</p><p>would be sealed by the marriage of King Argilac’s daughter to Orys</p><p>Baratheon, Lord Aegon’s childhood friend and champion.</p><p>These terms Argilac the Arrogant rejected angrily. Orys</p><p>Baratheon was a baseborn half brother to Lord Aegon, it was</p><p>whispered, and the Storm King would not dishonor his daughter by</p><p>giving her hand to a bastard. The very suggestion enraged him.</p><p>Argilac had the hands of Aegon’s envoy cut o� and returned to him</p><p>in a box. “These are the only hands your bastard shall have of me,”</p><p>he wrote.</p><p>Aegon made no reply. Instead he summoned his friends,</p><p>bannermen, and principal allies to attend</p><p>him on Dragonstone. Their</p><p>numbers were small. The Velaryons on Driftmark were sworn to</p><p>House Targaryen, as were the Celtigars of Claw Isle. From Massey’s</p><p>Hook came Lord Bar Emmon of Sharp Point and Lord Massey of</p><p>Stonedance, both sworn to Storm’s End, but with closer ties to</p><p>Dragonstone. Lord Aegon and his sisters took counsel with them and</p><p>visited the castle sept to pray to the Seven of Westeros as well,</p><p>though he had never before been accounted a pious man.</p><p>Argilac the Arrogant’s response to Aegon’s o�er. (illustration credit 28)</p><p>On the seventh day, a cloud of ravens burst from the towers of</p><p>Dragonstone to bring Lord Aegon’s word to the Seven Kingdoms of</p><p>Westeros. To the seven kings they �ew, to the Citadel of Oldtown,</p><p>to lords both great and small. All carried the same message: from</p><p>this day forth there would be but one king in Westeros. Those who</p><p>bent the knee to Aegon of House Targaryen would keep their lands</p><p>and titles. Those who took up arms against him would be thrown</p><p>down, humbled, and destroyed.</p><p>Accounts di�er on how many swords set sail from Dragonstone</p><p>with Aegon and his sisters. Some say three thousand; others number</p><p>them only in the hundreds. This modest Targaryen host put ashore</p><p>at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, on the northern bank where</p><p>three wooded hills rose above a small �shing village.</p><p>In the days of the Hundred Kingdoms, many petty kings had</p><p>claimed dominion over the river mouth, amongst them the Darklyn</p><p>kings of Duskendale, the Masseys of Stonedance, and the river kings</p><p>of old, be they Mudds, Fishers, Brackens, Blackwoods, or Hooks.</p><p>Towers and forts had crowned the three hills at various times, only</p><p>to be thrown down in one war or another. Now only broken stones</p><p>and overgrown ruins remained to welcome the Targaryens. Though</p><p>claimed by both Storm’s End and Harrenhal, the river mouth was</p><p>undefended, and the closest castles were held by lesser lords of no</p><p>great power or military prowess, and lords moreover who had little</p><p>reason to love their nominal overlord, Harren the Black.</p><p>Aegon Targaryen quickly threw up a log-and-earth palisade</p><p>around the highest of the three hills and dispatched his sisters to</p><p>secure the submission of the nearest castles. Rosby yielded to</p><p>Rhaenys and golden-eyed Meraxes without a �ght. At Stokeworth a</p><p>few crossbowmen loosed bolts at Visenya, until Vhagar’s �ames set</p><p>the roofs of the castle keep ablaze. Then they too submitted.</p><p>The conquerors’ �rst true test came from Lord Darklyn of</p><p>Duskendale and Lord Mooton of Maidenpool, who joined their</p><p>power and marched south with three thousand men to drive the</p><p>invaders back into the sea. Aegon sent Orys Baratheon out to attack</p><p>them on the march, whilst he descended on them from above with</p><p>the Black Dread. Both lords were slain in the one-sided battle that</p><p>followed; Darklyn’s son and Mooton’s brother thereafter yielded up</p><p>their castles and swore their swords to House Targaryen. At that</p><p>time Duskendale was the principal Westerosi port on the narrow sea</p><p>and had grown fat and wealthy from the trade that passed through</p><p>its harbor. Visenya Targaryen did not allow the town to be sacked,</p><p>but she did not hesitate to claim its riches, greatly swelling the</p><p>co�ers of the conquerors.</p><p>This perhaps would be an apt place to discuss the di�ering</p><p>characters of Aegon Targaryen and his sisters and queens.</p><p>Visenya, eldest of the three siblings, was as much a warrior as</p><p>Aegon himself, as comfortable in ringmail as in silk. She carried the</p><p>Valyrian longsword Dark Sister, and was skilled in its use, having</p><p>trained beside her brother since childhood. Though possessed of the</p><p>silver-gold hair and purple eyes of Valyria, hers was a harsh, austere</p><p>beauty. Even those who loved her best found Visenya stern, serious,</p><p>unforgiving, and some said that she played with poisons and</p><p>dabbled in dark sorceries.</p><p>Rhaenys, youngest of the three Targaryens, was all her sister was</p><p>not: playful, curious, impulsive, given to �ights of fancy. No true</p><p>warrior, Rhaenys loved music, dancing, and poetry, and supported</p><p>many a singer, mummer, and puppeteer. Yet it was said that</p><p>Rhaenys spent more time on dragonback than her brother and sister</p><p>combined, for above all things she loved to �y. She once was heard</p><p>to say that before she died she meant to �y Meraxes across the</p><p>Sunset Sea to see what lay upon its western shores. Whilst no one</p><p>ever questioned Visenya’s �delity to her brother/husband, Rhaenys</p><p>surrounded herself with comely young men, and (it was whispered)</p><p>even entertained some in her bedchambers on the nights when</p><p>Aegon was with her elder sister. Yet despite these rumors, observers</p><p>at court could not fail to note that the king spent ten nights with</p><p>Rhaenys for every night with Visenya.</p><p>Aegon Targaryen himself, strangely, was as much an enigma to</p><p>his contemporaries as to us. Armed with the Valyrian steel blade</p><p>Blackfyre, he was counted amongst the greatest warriors of his age,</p><p>yet he took no pleasure in feats of arms and never rode in tourney</p><p>or mêlée. His mount was Balerion the Black Dread, but he �ew only</p><p>to battle, or to travel swiftly across land and sea. His commanding</p><p>presence drew men to his banners, yet he had no close friends, save</p><p>Orys Baratheon, the companion of his youth. Women were drawn to</p><p>him, but Aegon remained ever faithful to his sisters. As king, he put</p><p>great trust in his small council and his sisters, leaving much of the</p><p>day-to-day governance of the realm to them…yet did not hesitate</p><p>to take command when he found it necessary. Though he dealt</p><p>harshly with rebels and traitors, he was open-handed with former</p><p>foes who bent the knee.</p><p>Ravens bearing Aegon’s proclamation to all corners of Westeros. (illustration credit 29)</p><p>This he showed for the �rst time at the Aegonfort, the crude</p><p>wood-and-earth castle he had raised atop what was henceforth and</p><p>forever known as Aegon’s High Hill. Having taken a dozen castles</p><p>and secured the mouth of the Blackwater Rush on both sides of the</p><p>river, he commanded the lords he had defeated to attend him. There</p><p>they laid their swords at his feet, and Aegon raised them up and</p><p>con�rmed them in their lands and titles. To his oldest supporters he</p><p>gave new honors. Daemon Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was made</p><p>master of ships, in command of the royal �eet. Triston Massey, Lord</p><p>of Stonedance, was named master of laws, Crispian Celtigar master</p><p>of coin. And Orys Baratheon he proclaimed to be “my shield, my</p><p>stalwart, my strong right hand.” Thus Baratheon is reckoned by the</p><p>maesters the �rst King’s Hand.</p><p>Heraldic banners had long been a tradition amongst the lords of</p><p>Westeros, but such had never been used by the dragonlords of old</p><p>Valyria. When Aegon’s knights unfurled his great silken battle</p><p>standard, with a red three-headed dragon breathing �re upon a</p><p>black �eld, the lords took it for a sign that he was now truly one of</p><p>them, a worthy high king for Westeros. When Queen Visenya placed</p><p>a Valyrian steel circlet, studded with rubies, on her brother’s head</p><p>and Queen Rhaenys hailed him as, “Aegon, First of His Name, King</p><p>of All Westeros, and Shield of His People,” the dragons roared and</p><p>the lords and knights sent up a cheer … but the smallfolk, the</p><p>�sherman and �eld hands and goodwives, shouted loudest of all.</p><p>The seven kings that Aegon the Dragon meant to uncrown were</p><p>not cheering, however. In Harrenhal and Storm’s End, Harren the</p><p>Black and Argilac the Arrogant had already called their banners. In</p><p>the west, King Mern of the Reach rode the Ocean Road north to</p><p>Casterly Rock to meet with King Loren of House Lannister. The</p><p>Princess of Dorne dispatched a raven to Dragonstone, o�ering to</p><p>join Aegon against Argilac the Storm King…but as an equal and</p><p>ally, not a subject. Another o�er of alliance came from the boy king</p><p>of the Eyrie, Ronnel Arryn, whose mother asked for all the lands</p><p>east of the Green Fork of the Trident for the Vale’s support against</p><p>Black Harren. Even in the North, King Torrhen Stark of Winterfell</p><p>sat with his lords bannermen and counselors late into the night,</p><p>discussing what was to be</p><p>done about this would-be conqueror. The</p><p>whole realm waited anxiously to see where Aegon would move</p><p>next.</p><p>Within days of his coronation, Aegon’s armies were on the march</p><p>again. The greater part of his host crossed the Blackwater Rush,</p><p>making south for Storm’s End under the command of Orys</p><p>Baratheon. Queen Rhaenys accompanied him, astride Meraxes of the</p><p>golden eyes and silver scales. The Targaryen �eet, under Daemon</p><p>Velaryon, left Blackwater Bay and turned north, for Gulltown and</p><p>the Vale. With them went Queen Visenya and Vhagar. The king</p><p>himself marched northeast, to the Gods Eye and Harrenhal, the</p><p>gargantuan fortress that was the pride and obsession of King Harren</p><p>the Black and which he had completed and occupied on the very day</p><p>Aegon landed in what would one day become King’s Landing.</p><p>All three of the Targaryen thrusts faced �erce opposition. Lords</p><p>Errol, Fell, and Buckler, bannermen to Storm’s End, surprised the</p><p>advance elements of Orys Baratheon’s host as they were crossing</p><p>the Wendwater, cutting down more than a thousand men before</p><p>fading back into the trees. A hastily assembled Arryn �eet,</p><p>augmented by a dozen Braavosi warships, met and defeated the</p><p>Targaryen �eet in the waters o� Gulltown. Amongst the dead was</p><p>Aegon’s admiral, Daemon Velaryon. Aegon himself was attacked on</p><p>the south shore of the Gods Eye, not once but twice. The Battle of</p><p>the Reeds was a Targaryen victory, but they su�ered heavy losses at</p><p>the Wailing Willows when two of King Harren’s sons crossed the</p><p>lake in longboats with mu�ed oars and fell upon their rear.</p><p>Such defeats proved no more than setbacks, however, and in the</p><p>end, Aegon’s enemies had no answer for his dragons. The men of</p><p>the Vale sank a third of the Targaryen ships and captured near as</p><p>many, but when Queen Visenya descended upon them from the sky,</p><p>their own ships burned. Lords Errol, Fell, and Buckler hid in their</p><p>familiar forests until Queen Rhaenys unleashed Meraxes and a wall</p><p>of �re swept through the woods, turning the trees to torches. And</p><p>the victors at the Wailing Willows, returning across the lake to</p><p>Harrenhal, were ill prepared when Balerion fell upon them out of</p><p>the morning sky. Harren’s longboats burned. So did Harren’s sons.</p><p>Aegon’s foes also found themselves plagued by other enemies. As</p><p>Argilac the Arrogant gathered his swords at Storm’s End, pirates</p><p>from the Stepstones descended on the shores of Cape Wrath to take</p><p>advantage of their absence, and Dornish raiding parties came</p><p>boiling out of the Red Mountains to sweep across the marches. In</p><p>the Vale, young King Ronnel had to contend with a rebellion on the</p><p>Three Sisters, when the Sistermen renounced all allegiance to the</p><p>Eyrie and proclaimed Lady Marla Sunderland their queen.</p><p>Yet these were but minor vexations compared to what befell</p><p>Harren the Black. Though House Hoare had ruled the riverlands for</p><p>three generations, the men of the Trident had no love for their</p><p>ironborn overlords. Harren the Black had driven thousands to their</p><p>deaths in the building of his great castle of Harrenhal, plundering</p><p>the riverlands for materials and beggaring lords and smallfolk alike</p><p>with his appetite for gold. So now the riverlands rose against him,</p><p>led by Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun. Summoned to the defense of</p><p>Harrenhal, Tully declared for House Targaryen instead, raised the</p><p>dragon banner over his castle, and rode forth with his knights and</p><p>archers to join his strength to Aegon’s. His de�ance gave heart to</p><p>the other riverlords. One by one, the lords of the Trident renounced</p><p>Harren and declared for Aegon the Dragon. Blackwoods, Mallisters,</p><p>Vances, Brackens, Pipers, Freys, Strongs…summoning their levies,</p><p>they descended on Harrenhal.</p><p>Suddenly outnumbered, King Harren the Black took refuge in his</p><p>supposedly impregnable stronghold. The largest castle ever raised in</p><p>Westeros, Harrenhal boasted �ve gargantuan towers, an</p><p>inexhaustible source of fresh water, huge, subterranean vaults well</p><p>stocked with provisions, and massive walls of black stone higher</p><p>than any ladder and too thick to be broken by any ram or shattered</p><p>by a trebuchet. Harren barred his gates and settled down with his</p><p>remaining sons and supporters to withstand a siege.</p><p>Aegon of Dragonstone was of a di�erent mind. Once he had</p><p>joined his power with that of Edmyn Tully and the other riverlords</p><p>to ring the castle, he sent a maester to the gates under a peace</p><p>banner, to parley. Harren emerged to meet him—an old man and</p><p>grey, yet still �erce in his black armor. Each king had his banner-</p><p>bearer and his maester in attendance, so the words that they</p><p>exchanged are still remembered.</p><p>“Yield now,” Aegon began, “and you may remain as Lord of the</p><p>Iron Islands. Yield now, and your sons will live to rule after you. I</p><p>have eight thousand men outside your walls.”</p><p>“What is outside my walls is of no concern to me,” said Harren.</p><p>“Those walls are strong and thick.”</p><p>Visenya and Vhagar burning the Arryn �eet. (illustration credit 30)</p><p>“But not so high as to keep out dragons. Dragons �y.”</p><p>“I built in stone,” said Harren. “Stone does not burn.”</p><p>To which Aegon said, “When the sun sets, your line shall end.”</p><p>It is said that Harren spat at that and returned to his castle. Once</p><p>inside, he sent every man of his to the parapets, armed with spears</p><p>and bows and crossbows, promising lands and riches to whichever</p><p>of them could bring the dragon down. “Had I a daughter, the</p><p>dragonslayer could claim her hand as well,” Harren the Black</p><p>proclaimed. “Instead I will give him one of Tully’s daughters, or all</p><p>three if he likes. Or he may pick one of Blackwood’s whelps, or</p><p>Strong’s, or any girl born of these traitors of the Trident, these lords</p><p>of yellow mud.” Then Harren the Black retired to his tower,</p><p>surrounded by his household guard, to sup with his remaining sons.</p><p>As the last light of the sun faded, Black Harren’s men stared into</p><p>the gathering darkness, clutching their spears and crossbows. When</p><p>no dragon appeared, some may have thought that Aegon’s threats</p><p>had been hollow. But Aegon Targaryen took Balerion up high,</p><p>through the clouds, up and up until the dragon was no bigger than a</p><p>�y upon the moon. Only then did he descend, well inside the castle</p><p>walls. On wings as black as pitch, Balerion plunged through the</p><p>night, and when the great towers of Harrenhal appeared beneath</p><p>him, the dragon roared his fury and bathed them in black �re, shot</p><p>through with swirls of red.</p><p>The destruction of Harrenhal. (illustration credit 31)</p><p>Stone does not burn, Harren had boasted, but his castle was not</p><p>made of stone alone. Wood and wool, hemp and straw, bread and</p><p>salted beef and grain, all took �re. Nor were Harren’s ironmen</p><p>made of stone. Smoking, screaming, shrouded in �ames, they ran</p><p>across the yards and tumbled from the wallwalks to die upon the</p><p>ground below. And even stone will crack and melt if a �re is hot</p><p>enough. The riverlords outside the castle walls said later that the</p><p>towers of Harrenhal glowed red against the night, like �ve great</p><p>candles…and like candles, they began to twist and melt, as runnels</p><p>of molten stone ran down their sides.</p><p>Harren and his last sons died in the �res that engulfed his</p><p>monstrous fortress that night. House Hoare died with him, and so</p><p>too did the Iron Islands’ hold on the riverlands. The next day,</p><p>outside the smoking ruins of Harrenhal, King Aegon accepted an</p><p>oath of fealty from Edmyn Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and named him</p><p>Lord Paramount of the Trident. The other riverlords did homage as</p><p>well—to Aegon as king and to Edmyn Tully as their liege lord.</p><p>When the ashes had cooled enough to allow men to enter the castle</p><p>safely, the swords of the fallen, many shattered or melted or</p><p>twisted into ribbons of steel by dragon�re, were gathered up and</p><p>sent back to the Aegonfort in wagons.</p><p>South and east, the Storm King’s bannermen proved considerably</p><p>more loyal than King Harren’s. Argilac the Arrogant gathered a</p><p>great host about him at Storm’s End. The seat of the Durrandons</p><p>was a mighty fastness, its great curtain wall even thicker than the</p><p>walls of Harrenhal. It too</p><p>was thought to be impregnable to assault.</p><p>Word of King Harren’s end soon reached the ears of his old enemy</p><p>King Argilac, however. Lords Fell and Buckler, falling back before</p><p>the approaching host (Lord Errol had been killed), had sent him</p><p>word of Queen Rhaenys and her dragon. The old warrior king</p><p>roared that he did not intend to die as Harren had, cooked inside his</p><p>own castle like a suckling pig with an apple in his mouth. No</p><p>stranger to battle, he would decide his own fate, sword in hand. So</p><p>Argilac the Arrogant rode forth from Storm’s End one last time, to</p><p>meet his foes in the open �eld.</p><p>The Storm King’s approach was no surprise to Orys Baratheon</p><p>and his men; Queen Rhaenys, �ying Meraxes, had witnessed</p><p>Argilac’s departure from Storm’s End and was able to give the Hand</p><p>a full accounting of the enemy’s numbers and dispositions. Orys</p><p>took up a strong position on the hills south of Bronzegate, and dug</p><p>in there on the high ground to await the coming of the</p><p>stormlanders.</p><p>As the armies came together, the stormlands proved true to their</p><p>name. A steady rain began to fall that morning, and by midday had</p><p>turned into a howling gale. King Argilac’s lords bannermen urged</p><p>him to delay his attack until the next day, in hopes the rain would</p><p>pass, but the Storm King outnumbered the conquerors almost two to</p><p>one and had almost four times as many knights and heavy horse.</p><p>The sight of the Targaryen banners �apping sodden above his own</p><p>hills enraged him, and the battle-seasoned old warrior did not fail to</p><p>note that the rain was blowing from the south, into the faces of the</p><p>Targaryen men on their hills. So Argilac the Arrogant gave the</p><p>command to attack, and the battle known to history as the Last</p><p>Storm began.</p><p>The �ghting lasted well into the night, a bloody business, and far</p><p>less one-sided than Aegon’s conquest of Harrenhal. Thrice Argilac</p><p>the Arrogant led his knights against the Baratheon positions, but the</p><p>slopes were steep and the rains had turned the ground soft and</p><p>muddy, so the warhorses struggled and foundered, and the charges</p><p>lost all cohesion and momentum. The stormlanders fared better</p><p>when they sent their spearmen up the hills on foot. Blinded by the</p><p>rain, the invaders did not see them climbing until it was too late,</p><p>and the wet bowstrings of the archers made their bows useless. One</p><p>hill fell, then another, and the third and �nal charge of the Storm</p><p>King and his knights broke through the Baratheon center…only to</p><p>come upon Queen Rhaenys and Meraxes. Even on the ground, the</p><p>dragon proved formidable. Dickon Morrigen and the Bastard of</p><p>Blackhaven, commanding the vanguard, were engulfed in</p><p>dragon�ame, along with the knights of King Argilac’s personal</p><p>guard. The warhorses panicked and �ed in terror, crashing into</p><p>riders behind them and turning the charge into chaos. The Storm</p><p>King himself was thrown from his saddle.</p><p>Yet still Argilac continued to battle. When Orys Baratheon came</p><p>down the muddy hill with his own men, he found the old king</p><p>holding o� half a dozen men, with as many corpses at his feet.</p><p>“Stand aside,” Baratheon commanded. He dismounted, so as to meet</p><p>the king on equal footing, and o�ered the Storm King one last</p><p>chance to yield. Argilac cursed him instead. And so they fought, the</p><p>old warrior king with his streaming white hair and Aegon’s �erce,</p><p>black-bearded Hand. Each man took a wound from the other, it was</p><p>said, but in the end the last of the Durrandon got his wish and died</p><p>with a sword in his hand and a curse on his lips. The death of their</p><p>king took all heart out of the stormlanders, and as the word spread</p><p>that Argilac had fallen, his lords and knights threw down their</p><p>swords and �ed.</p><p>For a few days it was feared that Storm’s End might su�er the</p><p>same fate as Harrenhal, for Argilac’s daughter Argella barred her</p><p>gates at the approach of Orys Baratheon and the Targaryen host,</p><p>and declared herself the Storm Queen. Rather than bend the knee,</p><p>the defenders of Storm’s End would die to the last man, she</p><p>promised when Queen Rhaenys �ew Meraxes into the castle to</p><p>parley. “You may take my castle, but you will win only bones and</p><p>blood and ashes,” she announced…but the soldiers of the garrison</p><p>proved less eager to die. That night they raised a peace banner,</p><p>threw open the castle gate, and delivered Lady Argella gagged,</p><p>chained, and naked to the camp of Orys Baratheon.</p><p>Orys Baratheon, the �rst Lord of Storm’s End. (illustration credit 32)</p><p>It is said that Baratheon unchained her with his own hands,</p><p>wrapped his cloak around her, poured her wine, and spoke to her</p><p>gently, telling her of her father’s courage and the manner of his</p><p>death. And afterward, to honor the fallen king, he took the arms</p><p>and words of the Durrandon for his own. The crowned stag became</p><p>his sigil, Storm’s End became his seat, and Lady Argella his wife.</p><p>With both the riverlands and stormlands now under the control</p><p>of Aegon the Dragon and his allies, the remaining kings of Westeros</p><p>saw plainly that their own turns were coming. At Winterfell, King</p><p>Torrhen called his banners; given the vast distances in the North, he</p><p>knew that assembling an army would take time. Queen Sharra of</p><p>the Vale, regent for her son Ronnel, took refuge in the Eyrie, looked</p><p>to her defenses, and sent an army to the Bloody Gate, gateway to</p><p>the Vale of Arryn. In her youth Queen Sharra had been lauded as</p><p>“the Flower of the Mountain,” the fairest maid in all the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms. Perhaps hoping to sway Aegon with her beauty, she sent</p><p>him a portrait of herself and o�ered herself to him in marriage,</p><p>provided he named her son Ronnel as his heir. Though the portrait</p><p>did �nally reach him, it is not known whether Aegon Targaryen</p><p>ever replied to her proposal; he had two queens already, and Sharra</p><p>Arryn was by then a faded �ower, ten years his elder.</p><p>Meanwhile, the two great western kings had made common</p><p>cause and assembled their own armies, intent on putting an end to</p><p>Aegon for good and all. From Highgarden marched Mern IX of</p><p>House Gardener, King of the Reach, with a mighty host. Beneath the</p><p>walls of Castle Goldengrove, seat of House Rowan, he met Loren I</p><p>Lannister, King of the Rock, leading his own host down from the</p><p>westerlands. Together the two kings commanded the mightiest host</p><p>ever seen in Westeros: an army �fty-�ve thousand strong, including</p><p>some six hundred lords great and small and more than �ve thousand</p><p>mounted knights. “Our iron �st,” boasted King Mern. His four sons</p><p>rode beside him, and both of his young grandsons attended him as</p><p>squires.</p><p>The two kings did not linger long at Goldengrove; a host of such</p><p>size must remain on the march lest it eat the surrounding</p><p>countryside bare. The allies set out at once, marching north by</p><p>northeast through tall grasses and golden �elds of wheat.</p><p>Advised of their coming in his camp beside the Gods Eye, Aegon</p><p>gathered his own strength and advanced to meet these new foes. He</p><p>commanded only a �fth as many men as the two kings, and much of</p><p>his strength was made up of men sworn to the riverlords, whose</p><p>loyalty to House Targaryen was of recent vintage and untested.</p><p>With the smaller host, however, Aegon was able to move much</p><p>more quickly than his foes. At the town of Stoney Sept, both his</p><p>queens joined him with their dragons—Rhaenys from Storm’s End,</p><p>and Visenya from Crackclaw Point, where she had accepted many</p><p>fervent pledges of fealty from the local lords. Together the three</p><p>Targaryens watched from the sky as Aegon’s army crossed the</p><p>headwaters of the Blackwater Rush and raced south.</p><p>The two armies came together amongst the wide, open plains</p><p>south of the Blackwater, near to where the Goldroad would run one</p><p>day. The two kings rejoiced when their scouts returned to them to</p><p>report Targaryen numbers and dispositions. They had �ve men for</p><p>every one of Aegon’s, it seemed, and the disparity in lords and</p><p>knights was even greater. And the land was wide and open, all grass</p><p>and wheat as far as the eye could see, ideal for heavy horse. Aegon</p><p>Targaryen did not command the high ground, as Orys Baratheon</p><p>had at the Last Storm; the ground</p><p>was �rm, not muddy. Nor were</p><p>they troubled by rain. The day was cloudless, though windy. There</p><p>had been no rain for more than a fortnight.</p><p>King Mern had brought half again as many men to the battle as</p><p>King Loren, and so demanded the honor of commanding the center.</p><p>His son and heir, Edmund, was given the vanguard. King Loren and</p><p>his knights formed the right, Lord Oakheart the left. With no</p><p>natural barriers to anchor the Targaryen line, the two kings meant</p><p>to sweep around Aegon on both �anks, then take him in the rear,</p><p>whilst their “iron �st,” a great wedge of armored knights and high</p><p>lords, smashed through Aegon’s center.</p><p>Aegon Targaryen drew his own men up in a rough crescent</p><p>bristling with spears and pikes, with archers and crossbowmen just</p><p>behind and light cavalry on either �ank. He gave command of his</p><p>host to Jon Mooton, Lord of Maidenpool, one of the �rst foes to</p><p>come over to his cause. The king himself intended to do his �ghting</p><p>from the sky, beside his queens. Aegon had noted the absence of</p><p>rain as well; the grass and wheat that surrounded the armies was</p><p>tall and ripe for harvest…and very dry.</p><p>The Targaryens waited until the two kings sounded their</p><p>trumpets and started forward beneath a sea of banners. King Mern</p><p>himself led the charge against the center on his golden stallion, his</p><p>son Gawen beside him with his banner, a great green hand upon a</p><p>�eld of white. Roaring and screaming, urged on by horns and</p><p>drums, the Gardeners and Lannisters charged through a storm of</p><p>arrows down onto their foes, sweeping aside the Targaryen</p><p>spearmen, shattering their ranks. But by then Aegon and his sisters</p><p>were in the air.</p><p>Aegon �ew above the ranks of his foes upon Balerion, through a</p><p>storm of spears and stones and arrows, swooping down repeatedly</p><p>to bathe his foes in �ame. Rhaenys and Visenya set �res upwind of</p><p>the enemy and behind them. The dry grasses and stands of wheat</p><p>went up at once. The wind fanned the �ames and blew the smoke</p><p>into the faces of the advancing ranks of the two kings. The scent of</p><p>�re sent their mounts into panic, and as the smoke thickened, horse</p><p>and rider alike were blinded. Their ranks began to break as walls of</p><p>�re rose on every side of them. Lord Mooton’s men, safely upwind</p><p>of the con�agration, waited with their bows and spears and made</p><p>short work of the burned and burning men who came staggering</p><p>from the inferno.</p><p>The Field of Fire, the battle was named afterward.</p><p>More than four thousand men died in the �ames. Another</p><p>thousand perished from sword and spears and arrows. Tens of</p><p>thousands su�ered burns, some so bad that they remained scarred</p><p>for life. King Mern IX was amongst the dead, together with his sons,</p><p>grandsons, brothers, cousins, and other kin. One nephew survived</p><p>for three days. When he died of his burns, House Gardener died</p><p>with him. King Loren of the Rock lived, riding through a wall of</p><p>�ame and smoke to safety when he saw the battle lost.</p><p>The Targaryens lost fewer than a hundred men. Queen Visenya</p><p>took an arrow in one shoulder but soon recovered. As his dragons</p><p>gorged themselves on the dead, Aegon commanded that the swords</p><p>of the slain be gathered up and sent downriver.</p><p>Loren Lannister was captured the next day. The King of the Rock</p><p>laid his sword and crown at Aegon’s feet, bent the knee, and did</p><p>him homage. And Aegon, true to his promises, lifted his beaten foe</p><p>back to his feet and con�rmed him in his lands and lordship, naming</p><p>him Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. Lord Loren’s</p><p>bannermen followed his example, and so too did many lords of the</p><p>Reach, those who had survived the dragon�re.</p><p>Yet the conquest of the west remained incomplete, so King Aegon</p><p>parted from his sisters and marched at once for Highgarden, hoping</p><p>to secure its surrender before some other claimant could seize it for</p><p>his own. He found the castle in the hands of its steward, Harlan</p><p>Tyrell, whose forebears had served the Gardeners for centuries.</p><p>Tyrell yielded up the keys to the castle without a �ght and pledged</p><p>his support to the conquering king. In reward Aegon granted him</p><p>Highgarden and all its domains, naming him Warden of the South</p><p>and Lord Paramount of the Mander, and giving him dominion over</p><p>all House Gardener’s former vassals.</p><p>It was King Aegon’s intent to continue his march south and</p><p>enforce the submission of Oldtown, the Arbor, and Dorne, but</p><p>whilst at Highgarden the word of a new challenge came to his ears.</p><p>Torrhen Stark, King in the North, had crossed the Neck and entered</p><p>the riverlands, leading an army of savage Northmen thirty thousand</p><p>strong. Aegon at once started north to meet him, racing ahead of his</p><p>army on the wings of Balerion, the Black Dread. He sent word to his</p><p>two queens as well, and to all the lords and knights who had bent</p><p>the knee to him after Harrenhal and the Field of Fire.</p><p>When Torrhen Stark reached the banks of the Trident, he found a</p><p>host half again the size of his own awaiting him south of the river.</p><p>Riverlords, westermen, stormlanders, men of the Reach…all had</p><p>come. And above their camp Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar</p><p>prowled the sky in ever-widening circles.</p><p>Torrhen’s scouts had seen the ruins of Harrenhal, where slow, red</p><p>�res still burned beneath the rubble. The King in the North had</p><p>heard many accounts of the Field of Fire as well. He knew that the</p><p>same fate might await him if he tried to force a crossing of the</p><p>river. Some of his lords bannermen urged him to attack all the</p><p>same, insisting that Northern valor would carry the day. Others</p><p>urged him to fall back to Moat Cailin and make his stand there on</p><p>Northern soil. The king’s bastard brother Brandon Snow o�ered to</p><p>cross the Trident alone under cover of darkness, to slay the dragons</p><p>whilst they slept.</p><p>King Torrhen did send Brandon Snow across the Trident. But he</p><p>crossed with three maesters by his side, not to kill but to treat. All</p><p>through the night messages went back and forth. The next morning,</p><p>Torrhen Stark himself crossed the Trident. There upon the south</p><p>bank of the Trident, he knelt, laid the ancient crown of the Kings of</p><p>Winter at Aegon’s feet, and swore to be his man. He rose as Lord of</p><p>Winterfell and Warden of the North, a king no more. From that day</p><p>to this day, Torrhen Stark is remembered as the King Who</p><p>Knelt…but no Northman left his burned bones beside the Trident,</p><p>and the swords Aegon collected from Lord Stark and his vassals</p><p>were not twisted or melted or bent.</p><p>The submission of Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt. (illustration credit 33)</p><p>Now once again Aegon Targaryen and his queens parted</p><p>company. Aegon turned south once more, marching toward</p><p>Oldtown, whilst his two sisters mounted their dragons—Visenya for</p><p>a second attempt at the Vale of Arryn, and Rhaenys for Sunspear</p><p>and the deserts of Dorne.</p><p>Sharra Arryn had strengthened the defenses of Gulltown, moved</p><p>a strong host to the Bloody Gate, and tripled the size of the</p><p>garrisons in Stone, Snow, and Sky, the waycastles that guarded the</p><p>approach to the Eyrie. All these defenses proved useless against</p><p>Visenya Targaryen, who rode Vhagar’s leathery wings above them</p><p>all and landed in the Eyrie’s inner courtyard. When the regent of the</p><p>Vale rushed out to confront her, with a dozen guards at her back,</p><p>she found Visenya with Ronnel Arryn seated on her knee, staring at</p><p>the dragon, wonder-struck. “Mother, can I go �ying with the lady?”</p><p>the boy king asked. No threats were spoken, no angry words</p><p>exchanged. The two queens smiled at one another and exchanged</p><p>courtesies instead. Then Lady Sharra sent for the three crowns (her</p><p>own regent’s coronet, her son’s small crown, and the Falcon Crown</p><p>of Mountain and Vale that the Arryn kings had worn for a thousand</p><p>years), and surrendered them to Queen Visenya, along with the</p><p>swords of her garrison. And it was said afterward that the little king</p><p>�ew thrice about the summit of the Giant’s Lance and landed to �nd</p><p>himself a little lord. Thus did Visenya Targaryen bring the Vale of</p><p>Arryn into her brother’s realm.</p><p>Rhaenys Targaryen had no such easy conquest. A host of Dornish</p><p>spearmen guarded</p><p>the Prince’s Pass, the gateway through the Red</p><p>Mountains, but Rhaenys did not engage them. She �ew above the</p><p>pass, above the red sands and the white, and descended upon Vaith</p><p>to demand its submission, only to �nd the castle empty and</p><p>abandoned. In the town beneath its walls, only women and children</p><p>and old men remained. When asked where their lords had gone,</p><p>they would only say, “Away.” Rhaenys followed the river</p><p>downstream to Godsgrace, seat of House Allyrion, but it too was</p><p>deserted. On she �ew. Where the Greenblood met the sea, Rhaenys</p><p>came upon the Planky Town, where hundreds of poleboats, �shing</p><p>ski�s, barges, houseboats, and hulks sat baking in the sun, joined</p><p>together with ropes and chains and planks to make a �oating city,</p><p>yet only a few old women and small children appeared to peer up at</p><p>her as Meraxes circled overhead.</p><p>The meeting between Meria Martell and Rhaenys Targaryen. (illustration credit 34)</p><p>Finally the queen’s �ight took her to Sunspear, the ancient seat of</p><p>House Martell, where she found the Princess of Dorne waiting in</p><p>her abandoned castle. Meria Martell was eighty years of age, the</p><p>maesters tell us, and had ruled the Dornishmen for sixty of those</p><p>years. She was very fat, blind, and almost bald, her skin sallow and</p><p>sagging. Argilac the Arrogant had named her “the Yellow Toad of</p><p>Dorne,” but neither age nor blindness had dulled her wits.</p><p>“I will not �ght you,” Princess Meria told Rhaenys, “nor will I</p><p>kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that.”</p><p>“I shall,” Rhaenys replied, “but we will come again, Princess, and</p><p>the next time we shall come with �re and blood.”</p><p>“Your words,” said Princess Meria. “Ours are Unbowed, Unbent,</p><p>Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady…but you will not bend us,</p><p>break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here.</p><p>Return at your peril.”</p><p>Thus queen and princess parted, and Dorne remained</p><p>unconquered.</p><p>To the west, Aegon Targaryen met a warmer welcome. The</p><p>greatest city in all of Westeros, Oldtown was ringed about with</p><p>massive walls and ruled by the Hightowers of Hightower, the</p><p>oldest, richest, and most powerful of the noble houses of the Reach.</p><p>Oldtown was also the center of the Faith. There dwelt the High</p><p>Septon, Father of the Faithful, the voice of the new gods on earth,</p><p>who commanded the obedience of millions of the devout</p><p>throughout the realms (save in the North, where the old gods still</p><p>held sway), and the blades of the Faith Militant, the �ghting orders</p><p>the smallfolk called the Stars and Swords.</p><p>Yet when Aegon Targaryen and his host approached Oldtown,</p><p>they found the city gates open, and Lord Hightower waiting to</p><p>make his submission. As it happened, when word of Aegon’s landing</p><p>�rst reached Oldtown, the High Septon had locked himself within</p><p>the Starry Sept for seven days and seven nights, seeking after the</p><p>guidance of the gods. He took no nourishment but bread and water,</p><p>it was said, and spent all his waking hours in prayer, moving from</p><p>one altar to the next. And on the seventh day, the Crone had lifted</p><p>her golden lamp to show him the path ahead. If Oldtown took up</p><p>arms against Aegon the Dragon, His High Holiness saw, the city</p><p>would surely burn, and the Hightower and the Citadel and the</p><p>Starry Sept would be cast down and destroyed.</p><p>Manfred Hightower, Lord of Oldtown, was a cautious lord, and</p><p>godly. One of his younger sons served with the Warrior’s Sons, and</p><p>another had only recently taken vows as a septon. When the High</p><p>Septon told him of the vision vouchsafed him by the Crone, Lord</p><p>Hightower determined that he would not oppose the Conqueror by</p><p>force of arms. Thus it was that no men from Oldtown burned on the</p><p>Field of Fire, though the Hightowers were bannermen to the</p><p>Gardeners of Highgarden. And thus it was that Lord Manfred rode</p><p>forth to greet Aegon the Dragon as he approached, and to o�er up</p><p>his sword, his city, and his oath. (Some say that Lord Hightower</p><p>also o�ered up the hand of his youngest daughter, which Aegon</p><p>declined politely, lest it o�end his two queens).</p><p>Three days later, in the Starry Sept, His High Holiness himself</p><p>anointed Aegon with the seven oils, placed a crown upon his head,</p><p>and proclaimed him Aegon of House Targaryen, the First of His</p><p>Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of</p><p>the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. (“Seven</p><p>Kingdoms” was the style used, though Dorne had not submitted.</p><p>Nor would it, for more than a century to come).</p><p>Only a handful of lords had been present for Aegon’s �rst</p><p>coronation at the mouth of the Blackwater, but hundreds were on</p><p>hand to witness his second, and tens of thousands cheered him</p><p>afterward in the streets of Oldtown as he rode through the city on</p><p>Balerion’s back. Amongst those at Aegon’s second coronation were</p><p>the maesters and archmaesters of the Citadel. Perhaps for that</p><p>reason, it was this coronation, rather than the Aegonfort crowning</p><p>or the day of Aegon’s Landing, that became �xed as the start of</p><p>Aegon’s reign.</p><p>Thus were the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros hammered into one</p><p>great realm, by the will of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters.</p><p>Many thought that King Aegon would make Oldtown his royal</p><p>seat after the wars were done, whilst others thought he would rule</p><p>from Dragonstone, the ancient island citadel of House Targaryen.</p><p>The king surprised them all by proclaiming his intent to make his</p><p>court in the new town already rising beneath the three hills at the</p><p>mouth of the Blackwater Rush, at the place where he and his sisters</p><p>had �rst set foot on the soil of Westeros. King’s Landing, the new</p><p>town was called. From there Aegon the Dragon ruled his realm,</p><p>holding court from a great metal seat made from the melted,</p><p>twisted, beaten, and broken blades of all his fallen foes, a perilous</p><p>seat that would soon be known through all the world as the Iron</p><p>Throne of Westeros.</p><p>The Iron Throne. (illustration credit 35)</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror crowned by the High Septon. (illustration credit 36)</p><p>AEGON I</p><p>KING AEGON, THE First of His Name, might have conquered the</p><p>Seven Kingdoms by the age of twenty-seven, but now he faced the</p><p>formidable challenge of ruling his newly forged realm. The seven</p><p>warring kingdoms had rarely been at peace within their own</p><p>borders let alone without them, and uniting them under one rule</p><p>required a truly remarkable man. So it was fortunate for the realm</p><p>that Aegon was such a man—a man with vision and determination</p><p>aplenty. And though his vision of a united Westeros proved harder</p><p>to realize than Aegon might have believed—not to mention far</p><p>costlier—it was a vision that shaped the course of history for</p><p>hundreds of years to come.</p><p>It was Aegon who saw a great royal city to rival and surpass</p><p>Lannisport and Oldtown spring up around his crude Aegonfort. And</p><p>while King’s Landing might have been a crowded, muddy, and</p><p>stinking place at its outset, it was always full of activity. A</p><p>makeshift sept constructed out of the hulk of a cog on the</p><p>Blackwater served the common people, and soon a much grander</p><p>sept was raised on Visenya’s Hill with money sent by the High</p><p>Septon. (This would be later joined by the Sept of Remembrance on</p><p>the Hill of Rhaenys as a memorial to the queen.) Where once only</p><p>�shing boats were seen, now cogs and galleys from Oldtown,</p><p>Lannisport, the Free Cities, and even the Summer Isles began to</p><p>appear as the �ow of trade shifted from Duskendale and</p><p>Maidenpool to King’s Landing. The Aegonfort itself grew larger,</p><p>bursting past its initial palisade to encompass more of Aegon’s High</p><p>Hill, and a new wooden keep was raised, its walls �fty feet high. It</p><p>stood until 35 AC, when Aegon tore it down so that the Red Keep</p><p>could be raised as a castle �t for the Targaryens and their heirs.</p><p>According to the history of Archmaester Gyldayn, it was</p><p>suggested at court that Aegon left Queen Visenya in charge</p><p>of building the Red Keep so that he would not have to</p><p>endure her presence on Dragonstone. In their later years,</p><p>their relationship—never a warm one to begin with—had</p><p>grown even more distant.</p><p>By 10 AC, King’s Landing had become</p><p>a true city, and by 25 AC it</p><p>had surpassed White Harbor and Gulltown to become the realm’s</p><p>third largest city. And yet, for much of this time, it was a city</p><p>without walls. It may be that Aegon and his sisters thought that no</p><p>one would dare assault a city that held dragons, but in 19 AC word</p><p>came of a pirate �eet sacking Tall Trees Town in the Summer Isles,</p><p>carrying o� thousands into slavery and a fortune in wealth.</p><p>Troubled by this—and realizing that he and Visenya were not</p><p>always at King’s Landing—Aegon at last commanded that walls be</p><p>raised. Grand Maester Gawen and the Hand, Ser Osmund Strong,</p><p>were given charge of the project. Aegon decreed there should be</p><p>room enough for the city to expand within those walls, and that</p><p>seven great gatehouses would defend seven gates, in honor of the</p><p>Seven. Construction began the next year, and by 26 AC it was</p><p>completed.</p><p>As the city and its prosperity grew, so did that of the realm. This</p><p>was in part due to the Conqueror’s e�orts to win the respect of his</p><p>vassals and that of the smallfolk. In this, he was often aided by</p><p>Queen Rhaenys (whilst she lived), for whom the smallfolk were of</p><p>special concern. She was likewise a patron to singers and bards—</p><p>something her sister, Queen Visenya, thought a waste, but those</p><p>singers made songs of praise for the Targaryens and carried them</p><p>throughout the realm. And if those songs also contained bold lies</p><p>that made Aegon and his sisters seem all the more glorious, the</p><p>queen did not rue it…although the maesters might.</p><p>The queen also did much to bring the realm together through the</p><p>marriages she arranged between far-�ung houses. Thus, Rhaenys’s</p><p>death in Dorne in 10 AC, and the wrath that followed it, was felt by</p><p>much of the realm, who had loved the beautiful, kindhearted queen.</p><p>Yet despite a reign covered in glory, the First Dornish War stood</p><p>out as Aegon’s one great defeat. The First Dornish War began boldly</p><p>in 4 AC, and ended in 13 AC after years of tragedy and spilled</p><p>blood. Many were the calamities of that war. The death of Rhaenys,</p><p>the years of the Dragon’s Wroth, the murdered lords, the would-be</p><p>assassins in King’s Landing and the Red Keep itself; it was a black</p><p>time.</p><p>But out of all the tragedy was born one glorious thing: the Sworn</p><p>Brotherhood of the Kingsguard. When Aegon and Visenya placed</p><p>prices on the heads of the Dornish lords, many were murdered, and</p><p>in retaliation the Dornishmen hired their own catspaws and killers.</p><p>On one occasion in 10 AC, Aegon and Visenya were both attacked in</p><p>the streets of King’s Landing, and if not for Visenya and Dark Sister,</p><p>the king might not have survived. Despite this, the king still</p><p>believed that his guards were su�cient to his defense; Visenya</p><p>convinced him otherwise. (It is recorded that when Aegon pointed</p><p>out his guardsmen, Visenya drew Dark Sister and cut his cheek</p><p>before his guards could react. “Your guards are slow and lazy,”</p><p>Visenya is reported to have said, and the king was forced to agree.)</p><p>Early King’s Landing and the Aegonfort. (illustration credit 37)</p><p>It was Visenya, not Aegon, who decided the nature of the</p><p>Kingsguard. Seven champions for the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms,</p><p>who would all be knights. She modeled their vows upon those of</p><p>the Night’s Watch, so that they would forfeit all things save their</p><p>duty to the king. And when Aegon spoke of a grand tourney to</p><p>choose the �rst Kingsguard, Visenya dissuaded him, saying he</p><p>needed more than skill in arms to protect him; he also needed</p><p>unwavering loyalty. The king entrusted Visenya with selecting the</p><p>�rst members of the order, and history shows he was wise to do so:</p><p>two died defending him, and all served to the end of their days with</p><p>honor. The White Book recounts their names, as it has recorded the</p><p>name and deeds of every knight who swore the vows: Ser Corlys</p><p>Velaryon, the �rst Lord Commander; Ser Richard Roote; Ser</p><p>Addison Hill, Bastard of Corn�eld; Ser Gregor Goode and Ser</p><p>Gri�th Goode, brothers; Ser Humfrey the Mummer, a hedge knight;</p><p>and Ser Robin Darklyn, called Darkrobin, the �rst of many Darklyns</p><p>to wear the white cloak.</p><p>The “rule of six,” now part of the common law, was</p><p>established by Rhaenys as she sat the Iron Throne while</p><p>the king was upon one of his progresses. A petition was</p><p>made by the brothers of a woman who had been beaten to</p><p>death by her husband after he caught her with another. He</p><p>defended himself by rightly noting that it was lawful for a</p><p>man to chastise an adulterous wife (which was true</p><p>enough, though in Dorne, matters are elsewise) so long as</p><p>he used a rod no thicker than a thumb. However, he had</p><p>struck her a hundred times, according to the brothers, and</p><p>this he did not deny. After deliberating with the maesters</p><p>and septons, Rhaenys declared that, whilst the gods made</p><p>women to be dutiful to their husbands and so could be</p><p>lawfully beaten, only six blows might ever be struck—one</p><p>for each of the Seven, save the Stranger, who was death.</p><p>For this reason, she declared that ninety-four of the</p><p>husband’s blows had been unlawful and agreed that the</p><p>dead woman’s brothers could match those blows upon the</p><p>husband.</p><p>Having established councillors early on—who in Jaehaerys I’s</p><p>day formed the small council that would advise the kings thereafter</p><p>—Aegon the Conqueror often left the day-to-day governance of the</p><p>realm to his sisters and these trusted councillors. And instead, he</p><p>worked to knit the realm together with his presence—to awe his</p><p>subjects and (when needed) frighten them. For half the year the</p><p>king �ew between King’s Landing and Dragonstone by turns, for</p><p>whilst the city was his royal seat, the isle that smelled of sulfur and</p><p>brimstone and the salt sea was the place he loved the best. But the</p><p>other half of the year he dedicated to the royal progress. He</p><p>traveled throughout the realm for the rest of his life, until his �nal</p><p>progress in 33 AC—making a point of paying his respects to the</p><p>High Septon in the Starry Sept each time he visited Oldtown,</p><p>guesting beneath the roofs of the lords of the great houses (even</p><p>Winterfell, on that last progress), and beneath the roofs of many</p><p>lesser lords, knights, and common innkeepers. The king brought a</p><p>glittering train with him wherever he went; in one progress, fully a</p><p>thousand knights followed him, and many lords and ladies of the</p><p>court besides.</p><p>In these progresses, the king was accompanied not only by his</p><p>courtiers but by maesters and septons as well. Six maesters were</p><p>often in his company to advise him upon the local laws and</p><p>traditions of the former realms, so that he might rule in judgment at</p><p>the courts he held. Rather than attempting to unify the realm under</p><p>one set of laws, he respected the di�ering customs of each region</p><p>and sought to judge as their past kings might have. (It would be left</p><p>for a later king to bring the laws of the realm into accord.) From</p><p>the conclusion of the First Dornish War until Aegon’s death in 37</p><p>AC, the realm was at peace, and Aegon ruled with wisdom and</p><p>forbearance. He had given the realm both “an heir and a spare” by</p><p>his two wives: the elder Prince Aenys by Rhaenys (long dead) and</p><p>the younger Prince Maegor by Visenya.</p><p>The crown of Aegon the Conqueror. (illustration credit 38)</p><p>He died where he had been born, on his beloved Dragonstone.</p><p>The accounts agree that he was in the Chamber of the Painted</p><p>Table, recounting to his grandsons Aegon and Viserys the tales of</p><p>his conquests, when he stumbled in his speech and collapsed. It was</p><p>a stroke, the maesters said, and the Dragon passed quickly and in</p><p>peace. His body was burned in the yard of Dragonstone’s citadel, as</p><p>was the custom of the Targaryens and the Valyrians before them.</p><p>Aenys, the Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne, was</p><p>at Highgarden when he learned of his father’s death and swiftly</p><p>�ew on his dragon to receive his crown. But all who followed</p><p>Aegon the Conqueror on the Iron Throne found the realm far less</p><p>amenable to their rule.</p><p>AENYS I</p><p>WHEN THE DRAGON passed at the age of four-and-sixty, his reign</p><p>had been uncontested by all save the Dornishmen. He had ruled</p><p>wisely: showing himself well during his royal progresses, displaying</p><p>due deference to the High Septons, rewarding those who served</p><p>well, and aiding those who required it. Yet beneath the surface of</p><p>this largely peaceful rule was a roiling cauldron of dissent. In their</p><p>hearts, many of his subjects still cherished the old days, when the</p><p>great houses ruled their own domains with unquestioned</p><p>sovereignty. Others wished vengeance, for loved ones killed in the</p><p>wars. And still others saw the Targaryens as abominations: brothers</p><p>wed to sisters, with their incestuous couplings producing</p><p>misbegotten heirs. The strength of Aegon and his sisters—and their</p><p>dragons—had been enough to subdue those who opposed them, but</p><p>the same could not be said for their heirs.</p><p>It was Aenys, Aegon’s �rstborn son by his beloved Rhaenys, who</p><p>came to the throne in the year 37 AC at the age of thirty. He was</p><p>crowned with great ceremony in the Red Keep in the midst of its</p><p>construction, donning an ornate golden crown rather than his</p><p>father’s circlet of Valyrian steel.</p><p>But though his father and brother, Maegor (who was Visenya’s</p><p>child), were both warriors born, Aenys was made of di�erent stu�.</p><p>He had begun life as a weak and sickly infant and remained so</p><p>throughout his earliest years. Rumors abounded that this could be</p><p>no true son of Aegon the Conqueror, who had been a warrior</p><p>without peer. In fact, it was well-known that Queen Rhaenys</p><p>delighted in handsome singers and witty mummers; perhaps one of</p><p>these might have fathered the child. But the rumors dampened and</p><p>eventually died when the sickly child was given a young hatchling</p><p>who was named Quicksilver. And as the dragon grew, so too did</p><p>Aenys.</p><p>King Aenys I upon the Iron Throne. (illustration credit 39)</p><p>Still, Aenys remained a dreamer, a dabbler in alchemy, a patron</p><p>of singers and mummers and mimes. Moreover, he hungered too</p><p>much for approval, and this led him to dither and hesitate over his</p><p>decisions for fear of disappointing one side or another. It was this</p><p>�aw that most marred his reign and brought him to an early and</p><p>ignominious end.</p><p>After the Conqueror’s death, it did not take long before</p><p>challenges to the Targaryen rule emerged. The �rst of these was the</p><p>bandit and outlaw named Harren the Red, who claimed to be a</p><p>grandson of Harren the Black. With the help of a castle servant,</p><p>Harren the Red seized both Harrenhal and its current ruler, the</p><p>infamous Lord Gargon (remembered as Gargon the Guest for his</p><p>custom of attending every wedding in his domain to exercise his</p><p>right to First Night). Lord Gargon was gelded in the castle’s</p><p>godswood and left to bleed to death while Red Harren proclaimed</p><p>himself Lord of Harrenhal and King of the Rivers.</p><p>All this took place while the king guested at Riverrun, the seat of</p><p>the Tullys. But by the time Aenys and Lord Tully moved to deal</p><p>with this threat, they found Harrenhal empty, Gargon’s loyal men</p><p>put to the sword, and Harren the Red and his followers returned to</p><p>banditry.</p><p>More rebels soon appeared in the Vale and the Iron Islands, while</p><p>a Dornishman naming himself the Vulture King gathered thousands</p><p>of followers to stand against the Targaryens. Grand Maester Gawen</p><p>wrote that the king was stunned by this news, for Aenys fancied</p><p>himself beloved of the commons. And the king again acted</p><p>indecisively: at �rst commanding that a host sail for the Vale to deal</p><p>with the usurper Jonos Arryn, who had imprisoned his own brother</p><p>Lord Ronnel, then suddenly recalling the order for fear that Harren</p><p>the Red and his men might in�ltrate King’s Landing. The king even</p><p>determined to call a Great Council to discuss how to deal with these</p><p>matters. Fortunately for the realm, others acted more swiftly.</p><p>Lord Royce of Runestone gathered forces that swept away the</p><p>rebels under Jonos Arryn, penning him and his followers in the</p><p>Eyrie—although this led directly to the murder of the imprisoned</p><p>Lord Ronnel, when Jonos sent his brother �ying out the Moon Door</p><p>to his death. Yet the Eyrie proved no safe haven when Prince</p><p>Maegor came calling on the back of Balerion, the Black Dread—the</p><p>dragon that he had always desired and could �nally claim following</p><p>his father’s death. Jonos and his followers all died by the noose, at</p><p>Maegor’s hand.</p><p>Meanwhile, in the Iron Islands, the man who claimed to be King</p><p>Lodos reborn was swiftly dispatched by Lord Goren Greyjoy, who</p><p>sent his pickled head to King Aenys. In return, Aenys granted Goren</p><p>a boon—a boon that Lord Goren used to oust the Faith from the</p><p>Iron Islands, to the dismay of the rest of the realm.</p><p>As for the Vulture King, the Martells largely ignored this little</p><p>insurrection within their own borders. Although Princess Deria</p><p>assured Aenys that the Martells only desired peace and were doing</p><p>what they could to put down the rebellion, it was left mostly to the</p><p>Marcher lords to resolve it. And at �rst, the so-called Vulture King</p><p>seemed more than their match. His early victories led to swelling</p><p>support, until his followers numbered some thirty thousand strong.</p><p>It was only when he split this great host—both for lack of supplies</p><p>to feed them and his con�dence that each could defeat any foe that</p><p>went against them—that his troubles began. Now they could be</p><p>defeated piecemeal by the former Hand Orys Baratheon and the</p><p>might of the Marcher lords—especially Savage Sam Tarly, whose</p><p>sword, Heartsbane, was said to be red from hilt to point after the</p><p>dozens of Dornishmen he cut down in the course of the Vulture</p><p>Hunt, as the chase after the Vulture King became known.</p><p>The �rst rebel was also the last. Harren the Red, who was still at</p><p>large, was �nally cornered by Aenys’s Hand, Lord Alyn Stokeworth.</p><p>In the �ghting that ensued, Harren killed Lord Alyn, only to be</p><p>killed by the Hand’s squire in turn.</p><p>With peace reestablished, the king thanked the chief lords and</p><p>champions who had put down these rebels and enemies of the</p><p>throne—and the foremost reward went to his brother, Prince</p><p>Maegor, whom Aenys named as the new Hand of the King. It</p><p>seemed, at the time, the wisest choice. And yet, it sowed the seeds</p><p>that sealed Aenys’s doom.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>The tradition amongst the Targaryens had always been to</p><p>marry kin to kin. Wedding brother to sister was thought to</p><p>be ideal. Failing that, a girl might wed an uncle, a cousin,</p><p>or a nephew; a boy, a cousin, aunt, or niece. This practice</p><p>went back to Old Valyria, where it was common amongst</p><p>many of the ancient families, particularly those who bred</p><p>and rode dragons. “The blood of the dragon must remain</p><p>pure,” the wisdom went. Some of the sorcerer princes also</p><p>took more than one wife when it pleased them, though this</p><p>was less common than incestuous marriage. In Valryia</p><p>before the Doom, wise men wrote, a thousand gods were</p><p>honored, but none were feared, so few dared to speak</p><p>against these customs.</p><p>This was not true in Westeros, where the power of the</p><p>Faith went unquestioned. Incest was denounced as vile sin,</p><p>whether between father and daughter, mother and son, or</p><p>brother and sister, and the fruits of such unions were</p><p>considered abominations in the sight of gods and men.</p><p>With hindsight, it can be seen that con�ict between the</p><p>Faith and House Targaryen was inevitable.</p><p>It had long been the Valyrian custom to marry within the family,</p><p>thus preserving the royal bloodlines. Yet this was not a custom</p><p>native to Westeros, and was viewed as an abomination by the Faith.</p><p>The Dragon and his sisters had been accepted without comment, and</p><p>the issue had not arisen when Prince Aenys was wed in 22 AC to</p><p>Alyssa Velaryon, the daughter of the king’s master of ships and lord</p><p>admiral; though she was a Targaryen upon her mother’s side, this</p><p>made her only a cousin. But when the tradition looked to continue</p><p>yet again, matters came to a sudden head.</p><p>Queen Visenya proposed that Maegor be wed to Aenys’s �rst</p><p>child, Rhaena, but the High Septon mounted a vigorous protest, and</p><p>Maegor was wed instead to the High Septon’s own niece, Lady</p><p>Ceryse of House Hightower. But that proved a barren marriage,</p><p>while Aenys’s</p><p>tales of the giants living uneasily</p><p>alongside the children, ranging where they would and taking what</p><p>they wanted. All the accounts claim that they were huge and</p><p>powerful creatures, but simple. Reliable accounts from the rangers</p><p>of the Night’s Watch, who were the last men to see the giants while</p><p>they still lived, state that they were covered in a thick fur rather</p><p>than simply being very large men as the nursery tales hold.</p><p>There is considerable evidence of burials among the giants, as</p><p>recorded in Maester Kennet’s Passages of the Dead—a study of the</p><p>barrow �elds and graves and tombs of the North in his time of</p><p>service at Winterfell, during the long reign of Cregan Stark. From</p><p>bones that have been found in the North and sent to the Citadel,</p><p>some maesters estimate that the largest of the giants could reach</p><p>fourteen feet, though others say twelve feet is nearer the truth. The</p><p>tales of long-dead rangers written down by maesters of the Watch</p><p>all agree that the giants did not make homes or garments, and knew</p><p>of no better tools or weapons than branches pulled from trees.</p><p>The archives of the Citadel contain a letter from Maester</p><p>Aemon, sent in the early years of the reign of Aegon V,</p><p>which reports on an account from a ranger named Redwyn,</p><p>written in the days of King Dorren Stark. It recounts a</p><p>journey to Lorn Point and the Frozen Shore, in which it is</p><p>claimed that the ranger and his companions fought giants</p><p>and traded with the children of the forest. Aemon’s letter</p><p>claimed that he had found many such accounts in his</p><p>examinations of the archives of the Watch at Castle Black,</p><p>and considered them credible.</p><p>The giants had no kings and no lords, made no homes save in</p><p>caverns or beneath tall trees, and they worked neither metal nor</p><p>�elds. They remained creatures of the Dawn Age even as the ages</p><p>passed them by, men grew ever more numerous, and the forests</p><p>were tamed and dwindled. Now the giants are gone even in the</p><p>lands beyond the Wall, and the last reports of them are more than a</p><p>hundred years old. And even those are dubious—tales that rangers</p><p>of the Watch might tell over a warm �re.</p><p>The children of the forest were, in many ways, the opposites of</p><p>the giants. As small as children but dark and beautiful, they lived in</p><p>a manner we might call crude today, yet they were still less</p><p>barbarous than the giants. They worked no metal, but they had</p><p>great art in working obsidian (what the smallfolk call dragonglass,</p><p>while the Valyrians knew it by a word meaning “frozen �re”) to</p><p>make tools and weapons for hunting. They wove no cloths but were</p><p>skilled in making garments of leaves and bark. They learned to</p><p>make bows of weirwood and to construct �ying snares of grass, and</p><p>both of the sexes hunted with these.</p><p>Their song and music was said to be as beautiful as they were,</p><p>but what they sang of is not remembered save in small fragments</p><p>handed down from ancient days. Maester Childer’s Winter’s Kings, or</p><p>the Legends and Lineages of the Starks of Winterfell contains a part of a</p><p>ballad alleged to tell of the time Brandon the Builder sought the aid</p><p>of the children while raising the Wall. He was taken to a secret</p><p>place to meet with them, but could not at �rst understand their</p><p>speech, which was described as sounding like the song of stones in a</p><p>brook, or the wind through leaves, or the rain upon the water. The</p><p>manner in which Brandon learned to comprehend the speech of the</p><p>children is a tale in itself, and not worth repeating here. But it</p><p>seems clear that their speech originated, or drew inspiration from,</p><p>the sounds they heard every day.</p><p>The gods the children worshipped were the nameless ones that</p><p>would one day become the gods of the First Men—the innumerable</p><p>gods of the streams and forests and stones. It was the children who</p><p>carved the weirwoods with faces, perhaps to give eyes to their gods</p><p>so that they might watch their worshippers at their devotions.</p><p>Others, with little evidence, claim that the greenseers—the wise</p><p>men of the children—were able to see through the eyes of the</p><p>carved weirwoods. The supposed proof is the fact that the First Men</p><p>themselves believed this; it was their fear of the weirwoods spying</p><p>upon them that drove them to cut down many of the carved trees</p><p>and weirwood groves, to deny the children such an advantage. Yet</p><p>the First Men were less learned than we are now, and credited</p><p>things that their descendants today do not; consider Maester</p><p>Yorrick’s Wed to the Sea, Being an Account of the History of White</p><p>Harbor from Its Earliest Days, which recounts the practice of blood</p><p>sacri�ce to the old gods. Such sacri�ces persisted as recently as �ve</p><p>centuries ago, according to accounts from Maester Yorrick’s</p><p>predecessors at White Harbor.</p><p>A giant. (illustration credit 10)</p><p>This is not to say that the greenseers did not know lost arts that</p><p>belong to the higher mysteries, such as seeing events at a great</p><p>distance or communicating across half a realm (as the Valyrians,</p><p>who came long after them, did). But mayhaps some of the feats of</p><p>the greenseers have more to do with foolish tales than truth. They</p><p>could not change their forms into those of beasts, as some would</p><p>have it, but it seems true that they were capable of communicating</p><p>with animals in a way that we cannot now achieve; it is from this</p><p>that legends of skinchangers, or beastlings, arose.</p><p>In truth, the legends of the skinchangers are many, but the most</p><p>common—brought from beyond the Wall by men of the Night’s</p><p>Watch, and recorded at the Wall by septons and maesters of</p><p>centuries past—hold that the skinchangers not only communicated</p><p>with beasts, but could control them by having their spirits mingle.</p><p>Even among the wildlings, these skinchangers were feared as</p><p>unnatural men who could call on animals as allies. Some tales speak</p><p>of skinchangers losing themselves in their beasts, and others say</p><p>that the animals could speak with a human voice when a</p><p>skinchanger controlled them. But all the tales agree that the most</p><p>common skinchangers were men who controlled wolves—even</p><p>direwolves—and these had a special name among the wildlings:</p><p>wargs.</p><p>Legend further holds that the greenseers could also delve into the</p><p>past and see far into the future. But as all our learning has shown</p><p>us, the higher mysteries that claim this power also claim that their</p><p>visions of the things to come are unclear and often misleading—a</p><p>useful thing to say when seeking to fool the unwary with fortune-</p><p>telling. Though the children had arts of their own, the truth must</p><p>always be separated from superstition, and knowledge must be</p><p>tested and made sure. The higher mysteries, the arts of magic, were</p><p>and are beyond the boundaries of our mortal ability to examine.</p><p>Though considered disreputable in this, our present day, a</p><p>fragment of Septon Barth’s Unnatural History has proved a</p><p>source of controversy in the halls of the Citadel. Claiming</p><p>to have consulted with texts said to be preserved at Castle</p><p>Black, Septon Barth put forth that the children of the forest</p><p>could speak with ravens and could make them repeat their</p><p>words. According to Barth, this higher mystery was taught</p><p>to the First Men by the children so that ravens could</p><p>spread messages at a great distance. It was passed, in</p><p>degraded form, down to the maesters today, who no</p><p>longer know how to speak to the birds. It is true that our</p><p>order understands the speech of ravens…but this means</p><p>the basic purposes of their cawing and rasping, their signs</p><p>of fear and anger, and the means by which they display</p><p>their readiness to mate or their lack of health.</p><p>Ravens are amongst the cleverest of birds, but they are</p><p>no wiser than infant children, and considerably less capable</p><p>of true speech, whatever Septon Barth might have</p><p>believed. A few maesters, devoted to the link of Valyrian</p><p>steel, have argued that Barth was correct, but not a one has</p><p>been able to prove his claims regarding speech between</p><p>men and ravens.</p><p>Yet no matter the truths of their arts, the children were led by</p><p>their greenseers, and there is no doubt that they could once be</p><p>found from the Lands of Always</p><p>bore more fruit, as Rhaena was followed by his son</p><p>and heir, Aegon, and later Viserys, Jaehaerys, and Alysanne.</p><p>Perhaps envious, after two years as Hand—and the birth to his</p><p>brother of yet another daughter, Vaella, who died as an infant—</p><p>Maegor shocked the realm in 39 AC by announcing that he had</p><p>taken a second wife—Alys of House Harroway—in secret. He had</p><p>wed her in a Valyrian ceremony o�ciated by Queen Visenya for</p><p>want of a septon willing to wed them. The public outcry was such</p><p>that Aenys was �nally forced to exile his brother.</p><p>Aenys seemed content to let the matter lie with Maegor’s exile,</p><p>but the High Septon was still not satis�ed. Not even the</p><p>appointment of the reputed miracle-worker, Septon Murmison, as</p><p>Aenys’s new Hand could wholly repair the breach with the Faith.</p><p>And in 41 AC, Aenys made matters worse when he chose to wed his</p><p>eldest daughter, Rhaena, to his son and heir, Aegon, whom he</p><p>named Prince of Dragonstone in Maegor’s place. From the Starry</p><p>Sept came a denunciation such as no king had ever received before,</p><p>addressed to “King Abomination”—and suddenly pious lords and</p><p>even the smallfolk who had once loved Aenys turned against him.</p><p>Septon Murmison was expelled from the Faith for performing the</p><p>ceremony, and zealous Poor Fellows took up arms, hacking</p><p>Murmison to pieces a fortnight later as he was carried by litter</p><p>across the city. The Warrior’s Sons began to fortify the Hill of</p><p>Rhaenys, making the Sept of Remembrance into a citadel that could</p><p>stand against the king. In addition, some Poor Fellows attempted to</p><p>murder the king and his family in the castle itself, scaling its walls</p><p>and slipping into the royal apartments. It was only thanks to a</p><p>knight of the Kingsguard that the royal family survived.</p><p>In the face of all this, Aenys abandoned the city with his family</p><p>and �ed to the safety of Dragonstone. There, Visenya counseled him</p><p>to take his dragons and bring �re and blood to both the Starry Sept</p><p>and the Sept of Remembrance. Instead, the king, who was incapable</p><p>of making a �rm decision, fell ill, with painful cramps wracking his</p><p>stomach and loose bowels. By the end of 41 AC, most of the realm</p><p>had turned against him. Thousands of Poor Fellows prowled the</p><p>roads, threatening the king’s supporters, and dozens of lords took</p><p>up arms against the Iron Throne. Though Aenys was only �ve-and-</p><p>thirty, it was said that he looked more like a man of sixty, and</p><p>Grand Maester Gawen despaired of improving his condition.</p><p>The dowager Queen Visenya took over his care, and for a time he</p><p>improved. And then, quite suddenly, he su�ered a collapse when he</p><p>learned that his son and daughter were besieged in Crakehall Castle,</p><p>where they had taken refuge when their yearly progress was</p><p>interrupted by the uprising against the throne. He died three days</p><p>later, and like his father before him, was burned on Dragonstone,</p><p>after the fashion of the Valyrians of old.</p><p>In later days, after Visenya’s death, it was suggested that King</p><p>Aenys’s sudden demise was Visenya’s doing, and some spoke of her</p><p>as a kinslayer and kingslayer. Did she not prefer Maegor over Aenys</p><p>in all things? Did she not have the ambition that her son should</p><p>rule? Why, then, did she tend to her stepson and nephew when she</p><p>seemed disgusted with him? Visenya was many things, but a woman</p><p>capable of pity never seemed to be one of them. It is a question that</p><p>cannot be readily dismissed…nor readily answered.</p><p>The burning of the Sept of Remembrance. (illustration credit 40)</p><p>MAEGOR I</p><p>MAEGOR, THE FIRST of His Name, came to the throne after the</p><p>sudden death of his brother, King Aenys, in the year 42 AC. He is</p><p>better remembered as Maegor the Cruel, and it was a well-earned</p><p>sobriquet, for no crueler king ever sat the Iron Throne. His reign</p><p>began with blood and ended in blood as well. The histories tell us</p><p>he enjoyed war and battle, but it is clear that it was violence he</p><p>most craved—violence and death and absolute mastery over all he</p><p>deemed his. What demon possessed him none could say. Even</p><p>today, some give thanks that his tyranny was a short one, for who</p><p>knows how many noble houses might have vanished forever simply</p><p>to sate his desire?</p><p>It was said Aenys was an adequate sword and lance—</p><p>capable enough not to disgrace himself, but little more.</p><p>Maegor, on the other hand, was defeating hardened</p><p>knights in the mêlée when he was all of three-and-ten, and</p><p>quickly won renown in the royal tourney of 28 AC when</p><p>he defeated three knights of the Kingsguard in succession</p><p>in the lists, and went on to win the mêlée. He was</p><p>knighted by King Aegon at six-and-ten, the youngest knight</p><p>in the realm at that time.</p><p>No sooner had Aenys been buried than Visenya mounted Vhagar</p><p>and �ew east to Pentos, to recall her son Maegor to the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms following his exile. Maegor �ew back across the narrow</p><p>sea with Balerion, staying at Dragonstone for long enough to be</p><p>crowned with his father’s Valyrian steel crown instead of his</p><p>brother’s more ornate one.</p><p>Grand Maester Gawen protested, noting that, by the laws of</p><p>inheritance, Prince Aegon, Aenys’s eldest son, should be king.</p><p>Maegor’s response was to declare the maester a traitor, sentence</p><p>him to death, and take his head with a single swing of Blackfyre.</p><p>After that, few others dared to support Aegon’s claim. Ravens �ew,</p><p>declaring that a new king had been crowned—one who would treat</p><p>his loyal supporters justly and bring a traitor’s death to those who</p><p>opposed him.</p><p>Chief among Maegor’s foes were the Faith Militant—the orders</p><p>of the Warrior’s Son and the Poor Fellows—and his war against</p><p>them provided a constant backdrop to his reign. In King’s Landing,</p><p>the militant orders had seized hold of the Sept of Remembrance and</p><p>the half-built Red Keep. But Maegor �ew straight into the city,</p><p>fearless upon Balerion, and raised the red dragon of House</p><p>Targaryen on Visenya’s Hill to rally men to him. Thousands joined</p><p>him.</p><p>Visenya then challenged any who denied Maegor’s right to rule</p><p>to prove themselves, and the captain of the Warrior’s Sons accepted</p><p>the challenge. Ser Damon Morrigen, called Damon the Devout,</p><p>agreed to a trial of seven after the ancient fashion: Ser Damon and</p><p>six Warrior’s Sons against the king and his six champions. It was a</p><p>contest in which the kingdom itself was at stake, and the accounts</p><p>and tales are many—and often contradictory. What we do know is</p><p>that King Maegor was the last man left standing, but that he took a</p><p>grievous blow to the head at the very end and fell senseless to the</p><p>ground just moments after the last of the Warrior’s Sons died.</p><p>For twenty-seven days, Maegor was dead to the world. On the</p><p>twenty-eighth, Queen Alys arrived from Pentos (Maegor was still</p><p>without issue), and with her came a Pentoshi beauty called Tyanna</p><p>of the Tower. She had become Maegor’s lover during his exile, it</p><p>was clear, and some whispered Queen Alys’s as well. The Dowager</p><p>Queen, after meeting with Tyanna, gave the king over to her care</p><p>alone—a fact that troubled Maegor’s supporters.</p><p>On the thirtieth day since the trial of seven, the king awoke with</p><p>the sunrise and walked out onto the walls. Thousands cheered—</p><p>though not at the Sept of Remembrance, where hundreds of the</p><p>Warrior’s Sons had gathered for their morning prayers. Then</p><p>Maegor mounted Balerion and �ew from Aegon’s High Hill to the</p><p>Hill of Rhaenys and, without warning, unleashed the Black Dread’s</p><p>�re. As the Sept of Remembrance was set alight, some tried to �ee,</p><p>only to be cut down by the archers and spearmen that Maegor had</p><p>made ready. The screams of the burning and dying men were said</p><p>to echo throughout the city, and scholars claim that a pall hung over</p><p>King’s Landing for seven days.</p><p>This was only the beginning of Maegor’s war against the Faith</p><p>Militant, however. The High Septon remained staunchly opposed to</p><p>his rule, and Maegor continued to gather more and more lords to</p><p>his side. At the battle at Stonebridge, the Poor Fellows fell in droves</p><p>and it is said that the Mander ran red with blood for twenty</p><p>leagues. Afterward, the bridge and the castle that commanded it</p><p>became</p><p>known as Bitterbridge.</p><p>An even greater battle was joined at the Great Fork of the</p><p>Blackwater, where thirteen thousand Poor Fellows—as well as</p><p>hundreds of knights from the chapter of the Warrior’s Sons at</p><p>Stoney Sept, and hundreds more besides from rebel lords of the</p><p>riverlands and westerlands who joined them—fought against the</p><p>king. It was a savage battle that lasted until nightfall, but it was a</p><p>decisive victory for King Maegor. The king �ew on Balerion’s back</p><p>in the battle, and though rains dampened the Black Dread’s �ames,</p><p>the dragon still left death in its wake.</p><p>The Faith Militant remained Maegor’s bitterest enemy for all of</p><p>his reign, and he remained theirs. Even the mysterious death of the</p><p>High Septon in 44 AC, followed by a High Septon far more genial</p><p>and biddable who attempted to disband the Stars and Swords, did</p><p>little to reduce the constant violence. Maegor’s wars against them</p><p>were further compounded by his many marriages, as he strove to</p><p>produce an heir. Yet no matter how many women he wedded—or</p><p>bedded—he found himself childless. He made brides of women</p><p>whom he had widowed—women of proved fertility—but the only</p><p>children born of his seed proved monstrosities: misshapen, eyeless,</p><p>limbless, or having the parts of man and woman both. His descent</p><p>into true madness, some say, began with the �rst of these</p><p>abominations.</p><p>Maegor does hold one distinction in his reign: the completion of</p><p>the Red Keep in the year 45 AC. It was a project begun by King</p><p>Aegon and continued by King Aenys, but it was Maegor who saw it</p><p>�nished. He went beyond the plans of both his father and brother,</p><p>raising a moated castle within the larger castle, which in later days</p><p>was known as Maegor’s Holdfast. More notably, he was the �rst to</p><p>command that secret tunnels and passages be made. False walls</p><p>were introduced, and trapdoors—and riddled throughout Aegon’s</p><p>High Hill were more and more tunnels. Maegor’s lack of heirs</p><p>seemed to matter little as he threw himself into overseeing the</p><p>construction. He appointed his good-father, Lord Harroway, as his</p><p>new Hand, and left him to govern the realm for a time while he saw</p><p>the castle completed.</p><p>But, as was typical of Maegor’s reign, even this great</p><p>achievement was turned to horror. When the keep was at last</p><p>completed, the king threw a riotous feast for the masons and</p><p>carvers and other craftsmen who had helped to construct the castle.</p><p>But after three days of revelry at the king’s expense, they were all</p><p>put to the sword so that the secrets of the Red Keep would be</p><p>Maegor’s alone.</p><p>In the end, it was a con�uence of the Faith and his own family</p><p>that proved Maegor’s undoing. In 43 AC, his nephew, Prince Aegon,</p><p>attempted to win back the throne that by law should have been his,</p><p>in what came to be known as the great Battle Beneath the Gods Eye.</p><p>Aegon died in that battle, leaving behind his wife and sister Rhaena,</p><p>and their two twin daughters; his dragon, Quicksilver, was lost as</p><p>well.</p><p>The Battle at Stonebridge. (illustration credit 41)</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>Hardly had the last stone been set on the Red Keep than</p><p>Maegor commanded that the ruins of the Sept of</p><p>Remembrance be cleared from the top of Rhaenys’s Hill,</p><p>and with them the bones and ashes of the Warrior’s Sons</p><p>who had perished there. In their place, he decreed, a great</p><p>stone “stable for dragons” would be erected, a lair worthy</p><p>of Balerion, Vhagar, and their get. Thus commenced the</p><p>building of the Dragonpit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it</p><p>proved di�cult to �nd builders, stonemasons, and laborers</p><p>to work on the project. So many men ran o� that the king</p><p>was �nally forced to use prisoners from the city’s dungeons</p><p>as his workforce, under the supervision of builders brought</p><p>in from Myr and Volantis.</p><p>Then, late in 45 AC, King Maegor entered a new campaign</p><p>against the rebellious Faith Militant, who had not put down their</p><p>swords at the new High Septon’s behest. According to an inventory</p><p>from that time, the next year the king brought back two thousand</p><p>skulls as trophies from his campaign, which he claimed to be from</p><p>outlawed Warrior’s Sons and Poor Fellows, though many thought</p><p>they were more likely the heads of smallfolk who just happened to</p><p>be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Day by day, the realm</p><p>turned against the king.</p><p>The death of the Dowager Queen Visenya in 44 AC was a notable</p><p>event although Maegor seemed to take it in his stride. She had been</p><p>his greatest ally and supporter from birth, seeking his advancement</p><p>over his elder brother Aenys, and doing what she could to secure his</p><p>legacy. In the confusion after her death, Aenys’s widow, Queen</p><p>Alyssa, slipped away from Dragonstone with her children, as well as</p><p>with Dark Sister, Visenya’s Valyrian steel sword. Alyssa and Aenys’s</p><p>next eldest son after Aegon, Prince Viserys, had been kept at the</p><p>Red Keep as the king’s squire, however, and he su�ered for her</p><p>�ight. He died after nine days of questioning at the hands of Tyanna</p><p>of the Tower. The king left his body in the castle courtyard, like so</p><p>much o�al, for a fortnight, hoping that word of it would force</p><p>Queen Alyssa to claim her son’s body, but she did not return.</p><p>Viserys was �fteen at his death.</p><p>In 48 AC, Septon Moon and Ser Jo�rey Doggett—also known as</p><p>the Red Dog of the Hills—led the Poor Fellows against the king, and</p><p>Riverrun stood with them. When Lord Daemon Velaryon, the</p><p>admiral of the king’s �eets, turned against Maegor as well, many of</p><p>the great houses joined with him. Maegor’s tyrannical reign could</p><p>no longer be borne, and the realm rose up to end it. Unifying them</p><p>all was the claim put forward by the young Prince Jaehaerys—</p><p>Aenys and Alyssa’s only remaining son, now all of fourteen years of</p><p>age—and supported by the Lord of Storm’s End whom Jaehaerys</p><p>had named as Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King. When</p><p>Queen Rhaena—whom Maegor had married after Aegon’s death—</p><p>learned of her brother’s proclamation, she �ed on her dragon,</p><p>Dreamfyre, stealing Blackfyre away as her king and husband slept.</p><p>Even two of the Kingsguard abandoned Maegor, joining Jaehaerys</p><p>instead.</p><p>Maegor’s response to this was slow and confused, and it seems</p><p>that this series of betrayals—and perhaps even the loss of his</p><p>mother’s guidance—had left him, in his own way, as broken as</p><p>Aenys. He called his loyal lords to King’s Landing, but all that came</p><p>were minor lords of the crownlands, who had little to marshal</p><p>against the king’s many enemies. It was late at night, during the</p><p>hour of the wolf, when the remaining lords departed the council</p><p>chamber, leaving Maegor to brood alone. Early the next morning,</p><p>he was found dead on the throne, his robes sodden with blood, his</p><p>arms slashed open by the barbs of the Iron Throne.</p><p>Thus ended Maegor the Cruel. How he came to die is a matter of</p><p>much speculation. Though the singers would have us believe that</p><p>the Iron Throne itself killed him, some suspect his Kingsguard, and</p><p>others some mason whom the king had failed to kill and who knew</p><p>the secrets of the Red Keep. But perhaps even likelier is the</p><p>suggestion that the king killed himself rather than su�er defeat.</p><p>Whatever the truth, it was a reign that ended in the only way it</p><p>could after the six years of terror that Maegor had visited upon the</p><p>realm. But his nephew’s reign would do much to mend the deep</p><p>wounds he had made in the Seven Kingdoms.</p><p>Maegor I, dead upon the Iron Throne. (illustration credit 42)</p><p>The Brides of Maegor the Cruel</p><p>CERYSE OF HOUSE HIGHTOWER</p><p>Ceryse was the daughter of Martyn Hightower, the Lord of</p><p>Oldtown. She was advanced by her uncle, the High Septon, after he</p><p>protested the betrothal of the thirteen-year-old Prince Maegor to</p><p>Maegor’s newborn niece, Princess Rhaena. Ceryse and Maegor were</p><p>married in 25 AC. The prince claimed to have consummated their</p><p>marriage a dozen times on their wedding night, but no sons ever</p><p>came of it. He soon grew tired of Ceryse’s failure to bear him an</p><p>heir and began taking other brides. Ceryse died in 45 AC, taken by</p><p>a sudden illness, though it is also rumored that she was killed at the</p><p>king’s</p><p>command.</p><p>ALYS OF HOUSE HARROWAY</p><p>Alys was the daughter of Lucas Harroway, the new Lord of</p><p>Harrenhal. A secret marriage took place in 39 AC, while Maegor</p><p>was Hand, leading to Maegor’s exile to Pentos. Alys became queen</p><p>after Maegor brought her back from Pentos. She was the �rst</p><p>woman to become pregnant by the king in the year 48 AC, but she</p><p>lost the babe soon after. What was expelled from her womb was a</p><p>monstrosity, eyeless and twisted, and in his fury Maegor blamed</p><p>and executed her midwives, septas, and the Grand Maester</p><p>Desmond. Tyanna of the Tower convinced the king that the child</p><p>was the product of Alys’s secret a�airs, however, leading to the</p><p>death of Queen Alys, her companions, her father and his Hand, the</p><p>Lord Lucas, and every Harroway or Harroway kinsman King</p><p>Maegor could discover between King’s Landing and Harrenhal. Lord</p><p>Edwell Celtigar was named Hand afterward.</p><p>The brides of Maegor the Cruel (top to bottom: Ceryse Hightower, Tyanna of the Tower, Alys</p><p>Harroway). (illustration credit 43)</p><p>TYANNA OF THE TOWER</p><p>Tyanna was the most feared of the brides of King Maegor. Rumored</p><p>to have been the natural daughter of a Pentoshi magister, she had</p><p>been a tavern dancer who rose up to become a courtesan. She was</p><p>said to practice sorcery and alchemy. She was wed to the king in 42</p><p>AC, but their marriage bed was as barren as the rest. Called the</p><p>king’s raven by some, she was feared for her ability to ferret out</p><p>secrets and served as his mistress of whisperers. She eventually</p><p>confessed her responsibility for the abominations that were born of</p><p>Maegor’s seed, claiming she had poisoned his other brides. She was</p><p>killed by Maegor’s own hand in 48 AC, her heart cut out with</p><p>Blackfyre and thrown to his dogs.</p><p>THE BLACK BRIDES</p><p>In 47 AC, Maegor took three women to wife in a single ceremony—</p><p>all women of proven fertility, and all widows who had lost their</p><p>husbands to Maegor’s wars or at his command. They were:</p><p>ELINOR OF HOUSE COSTAYNE</p><p>Elinor was the youngest of the Black Brides, but though she was</p><p>nine-and-ten at her marriage, she had already given her husband,</p><p>Ser Theo Bolling, three children. Ser Theo was arrested by knights</p><p>of the Kingsguard, accused of conspiring with Queen Alyssa to place</p><p>her son, Prince Jaehaerys, on the throne, and was then executed—</p><p>all on the same day. After seven days of mourning, Elinor was</p><p>summoned to wed Maegor. She, too, became pregnant, and like</p><p>Alys before her, she gave birth to a stillborn abomination said to</p><p>have been born eyeless and with small wings. She survived that</p><p>monstrous labor, however, and was one of the two wives who</p><p>survived the king.</p><p>RHAENA OF HOUSE TARGARYEN</p><p>When Prince Aegon was killed by Maegor in the Battle Beneath the</p><p>Gods Eye, Rhaena took refuge on Fair Isle under the protection of</p><p>Lord Farman, who hid her and her twin daughters. Tyanna found</p><p>the twin girls, however, and Rhaena was then forced to wed</p><p>Maegor. Maegor named her daughter, Aerea, as his heir while</p><p>disinheriting Queen Alyssa’s surviving son, Jaehaerys. Along with</p><p>Elinor, Rhaena was the only other queen to survive Maegor.</p><p>JEYNE OF HOUSE WESTERLING</p><p>Tall and slender, Lady Jeyne had been wed to Lord Alyn Tarbeck,</p><p>who died with the rebels at the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye.</p><p>Having given him a posthumous son, her fecundity was proven and</p><p>she was being courted by the son of the Lord of Casterly Rock when</p><p>the king sent for her. In 47 AC she was with child, but three moons</p><p>before the child was due, her labor began, and from her womb</p><p>came another stillborn monster. She did not survive the child for</p><p>long.</p><p>The brides of Maegor the Cruel (top to bottom: Elinor Costayne, Jeyne Westerling, Rhaena</p><p>Targaryen).</p><p>JAEHAERYS I</p><p>JAEHAERYS CAME TO the throne in 48 AC, in a time when the</p><p>realm had been torn asunder by the ambitions of rebellious lords,</p><p>the fury of the High Septon, and the cruelty of his uncle, Maegor I.</p><p>Crowned at four-and-ten by the High Septon with his father’s own</p><p>crown, he began his reign under the regency of his mother, the</p><p>Dowager Queen Alyssa, and the guidance of Lord Robar of House</p><p>Baratheon, Lord Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King in</p><p>those early years. Once in his majority, the king wed his sister</p><p>Alysanne, and theirs was a fruitful marriage.</p><p>Though young to the throne, Jaehaerys revealed himself from an</p><p>early age to be a true king. He was a �ne warrior, skilled with lance</p><p>and bow, and a gifted horseman. He was a dragonrider as well,</p><p>riding upon Vermithor—a great beast of bronze and tan who was</p><p>the largest of the living dragons after Balerion and Vhagar. Decisive</p><p>in thought and deed, Jaehaerys was wise beyond his years, always</p><p>seeking the most peaceable ends.</p><p>His queen, Alysanne, was also well loved throughout the realm,</p><p>being both beautiful and high-spirited, as well as charming and</p><p>keenly intelligent. Some said that she ruled the realm as much as</p><p>the king did, and there was some truth to that. It was at her behest</p><p>that King Jaehaerys at last forbade the right of the First Night,</p><p>despite the many lords who jealously guarded it. And the Night’s</p><p>Watch came to rename the castle of Snowgate in her honor, dubbing</p><p>it Queensgate instead. They did this in thanks for the treasure in</p><p>jewels she gave them to pay for the construction of a new castle,</p><p>Deep Lake, to replace the huge and ruinously costly Nightfort, and</p><p>for her role in winning them the New Gift that bolstered their</p><p>�agging strength.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>The great tourney held at King’s Landing in 98 AC to</p><p>celebrate the �ftieth year of King Jaehaerys’s reign surely</p><p>gladdened the queen’s heart as well, for all her surviving</p><p>children, grandchildren, and her great-granddaughter</p><p>returned to share in the feasts and celebrations.</p><p>Not since the Doom of Valyria had so many dragons</p><p>been seen in one place at one time, it was truly said. The</p><p>�nal tilt, wherein the Kingsguard knights Ser Ryam</p><p>Redwyne and Ser Clement Crabb broke thirty lances</p><p>against each other before King Jaehaerys proclaimed them</p><p>cochampions, was declared to be the �nest display of</p><p>jousting ever seen in Westeros.</p><p>For forty-six years, the Old King and Good Queen Alysanne were</p><p>wed, and for the most part it was a happy marriage, with children</p><p>and grandchildren aplenty.</p><p>Two estrangements are recorded, but they did not last more than</p><p>a year or two before the pair resumed their customary friendship.</p><p>The Second Quarrel, however, is of note, as it was due to</p><p>Jaehaerys’s decision in 92 AC to pass over his granddaughter</p><p>Rhaenys—the daughter of his deceased eldest son and heir, Prince</p><p>Aemon—in favor of bestowing Dragonstone and the place of heir</p><p>apparent on his next eldest son, Baelon the Brave. Alysanne saw no</p><p>reason why a man should be favored over a woman … and if</p><p>Jaehaerys thought women of less use, then he would have no need</p><p>of her. They reconciled in time, but the Old King outlived his</p><p>beloved queen, and in his last years it was said that the grief of</p><p>their parting hung over his court like a pall.</p><p>Yet if Alysanne was Jaehaerys’s great love, his greatest friend</p><p>was Septon Barth. No man of humble birth ever rose so high as the</p><p>plainspoken but brilliant septon. He was the son of a common</p><p>blacksmith and had been given to the Faith while young. But his</p><p>brilliance made itself known, and in time he came to serve in the</p><p>library at the Red Keep, tending the king’s books and records. There</p><p>King Jaehaerys became acquainted with him, and soon named him</p><p>Hand of the King. Many lords of great lineage looked askance at</p><p>this—and the High Septon and Most Devout were said to be even</p><p>more concerned over questions of his orthodoxy—but Barth more</p><p>than proved himself.</p><p>With Barth’s aid and advice, King Jaehaerys did more to reform</p><p>the realm than any other king who lived before or after. Where his</p><p>grandsire, King Aegon, had left the laws of the Seven Kingdoms to</p><p>the vagaries of local tradition and custom, Jaehaerys created the</p><p>�rst uni�ed code, so that from the North to the Dornish Marches,</p><p>the realm shared a single rule of law. Great works to improve</p><p>King’s Landing were also implemented—drains and sewers and</p><p>wells, especially, for Barth believed that fresh water and the</p><p>�ushing away of o�al and waste were important to a city’s health.</p><p>Furthermore, the Conciliator began the construction of the great</p><p>network of roads that would one day join King’s Landing to the</p><p>Reach, the stormlands, the westerlands, the riverlands, and even the</p><p>North—understanding that to knit together the realm it must be</p><p>easier to travel among its regions. The kingsroad was the greatest</p><p>of these roads, reaching hundreds of leagues to Castle Black and the</p><p>Wall.</p><p>The great tourney of 98 AC. (illustration credit 44)</p><p>Yet some say the most important achievement of the rule of</p><p>Jaehaerys and Septon Barth was a reconciliation with the Faith. The</p><p>Poor Fellows and Warrior’s Sons, no longer hunted as they had been</p><p>in Maegor’s day, were much reduced and o�cially outlawed thanks</p><p>to Maegor, but they were still present. And still restless, in their</p><p>eagerness to restore their orders. More pressingly, the Faith’s</p><p>traditional right to judge its own had begun to prove troublesome,</p><p>and many lords complained of unscrupulous septries and septons</p><p>making free with the wealth and property of their neighbors and</p><p>those they preached to.</p><p>The Great Council of 101 AC. (illustration credit 45)</p><p>Some counselors urged the Old King to deal with the remnants of</p><p>the Faith Militant harshly—to stamp them out once and for all</p><p>before their zealotry could return the realm to chaos. Others cared</p><p>more for ensuring that the septons were answerable to the same</p><p>justice as the rest of the realm. But Jaehaerys instead dispatched</p><p>Septon Barth to Oldtown, to speak with the High Septon, and there</p><p>they began to forge a lasting agreement. In return for the last few</p><p>Stars and Swords putting down their weapons, and for agreeing to</p><p>accept outside justice, the High Septon received King Jaehaerys’s</p><p>sworn oath that the Iron Throne would always protect and defend</p><p>the Faith. In this way, the great schism between crown and Faith</p><p>was forever healed.</p><p>And so the greatest problem of the later years of Jaehaerys’s</p><p>reign was the fact that there were simply too many Targaryens, and</p><p>too many possible successors. Ill fate had left Jaehaerys lacking a</p><p>clear heir not once but twice, following the death of Baelon the</p><p>Brave in 101 AC. To resolve the matter of his heir once and for all,</p><p>Jaehaerys called the �rst Great Council in the year 101 AC, to put</p><p>the matter before the lords of the realm. And from all corners of the</p><p>realm the lords came. No castle could hold so many save for</p><p>Harrenhal, so it was there that they gathered. The lords, great and</p><p>small, came with their trains of bannermen, knights, squires,</p><p>grooms, and servants. And behind them came yet more—the camp</p><p>followers and washerwomen, the hawkers and smiths and carters.</p><p>Thousands of tents sprang up over the moons, until the castle town</p><p>of Harrenton was accounted the fourth largest city of the Realm.</p><p>At this council, nine lesser claimants were heard and dismissed,</p><p>leaving only two primary claimants to the throne: Laenor Velaryon,</p><p>son of Princess Rhaenys—who was the eldest daughter of</p><p>Jaehaerys’s eldest son, Aemon—and Prince Viserys, eldest son of</p><p>Baelon the Brave and Princess Alyssa. Each had their merits, for</p><p>primogeniture favored Laenor, while proximity favored Viserys,</p><p>who was also the last Targaryen prince to ride Balerion before the</p><p>dragon’s death in 94 AC. Laenor himself had recently acquired a</p><p>dragon, a splendid creature that he named Seasmoke. But for many</p><p>lords of the realm, what mattered most was that the male line take</p><p>precedence over the female line—not to mention that Viserys was a</p><p>prince of four-and-twenty while Laenor was just a boy of seven.</p><p>But against all this, Laenor had one shining advantage: he was</p><p>the son of Lord Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, the wealthiest man</p><p>in the Seven Kingdoms. The Sea Snake was named for Ser Corlys</p><p>Velaryon, the �rst Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, but his fame</p><p>did not come from his skill with sword and lance and shield but for</p><p>his voyages across the seas of the world, seeking new horizons. He</p><p>was a scion of House Velaryon: a family of old and storied Valyrian</p><p>heritage who had come to Westeros before the Targaryens, as the</p><p>histories agree, and who often provided the bulk of the royal �eet.</p><p>So many Velaryons served as lord admiral and master of ships that</p><p>it was, at times, almost considered a hereditary o�ce.</p><p>Lord Corlys traveled widely, both to the south and to the north,</p><p>and once sought for a rumored passage around the top of Westeros</p><p>—though he turned back his ship, the Ice Wolf, when he found only</p><p>frozen seas and giant icebergs. But his greatest voyages were upon</p><p>the Sea Snake, by which name he would later be known. Many ships</p><p>of Westeros had sailed as far as Qarth to trade for spices and silk,</p><p>but he dared to go farther, reaching the fabled lands of Yi Ti and</p><p>Leng, whose wealth doubled that of House Velaryon in a single</p><p>voyage.</p><p>Nine great voyages were made upon the Sea Snake, and on the</p><p>last, Corlys �lled the ship’s hold with gold and bought twenty more</p><p>ships at Qarth, loading them with spices, elephants, and the �nest</p><p>silk. Some were lost, and the elephants died at sea, according to</p><p>Maester Mathis’s The Nine Voyages, but the wealth that remained</p><p>made House Velaryon the richest in the realm—richer even than the</p><p>Lannisters and Hightowers, for a time.</p><p>Corlys Velaryon became a lord after his grandsire’s death and</p><p>used his wealth to raise a new seat, High Tide, to replace the damp,</p><p>cramped castle Driftmark and house the ancient Driftwood Throne</p><p>—the high seat of the Velaryons, which legend claims was given to</p><p>them by the Merling King to conclude a pact. So much trade came</p><p>to �ow to and from Driftmark that the towns of Hull and Spicetown</p><p>sprang up, becoming the chief ports of trade in Blackwater Bay for a</p><p>time, surpassing even King’s Landing.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>In the eyes of many, the Great Council of 101 AC thereby</p><p>established an iron precedent on matters of succession:</p><p>regardless of seniority, the Iron Throne of Westeros could</p><p>not pass to a woman, nor through a woman to her male</p><p>descendents.</p><p>His fame, his reputation, and his wealth did much to support his</p><p>son Laenor’s claim. Boremund Baratheon also supported Laenor’s</p><p>claim, as did Lord Ellard Stark. So, too, did Lord Blackwood, Lord</p><p>Bar Emmon, and Lord Celtigar. But they were too few. The tide was</p><p>against them, and though the maesters who counted the results</p><p>never gave numbers, it was rumored that the Great Council had</p><p>voted twenty to one in favor of Prince Viserys. The king, not</p><p>present for �nal deliberations, named Viserys the Prince of</p><p>Dragonstone.</p><p>In his last years, King Jaehaerys named Ser Otto Hightower as</p><p>his Hand, and Ser Otto brought his family to King’s Landing with</p><p>him. Among them was young Alicent—a clever girl of �fteen years,</p><p>who became Jaehaerys’s companion in his age. She read to him,</p><p>fetched his meals, and even helped to bathe and dress him. It is said</p><p>that, at times, the king thought her to be one of his own daughters.</p><p>Unkinder rumors claimed that she was his lover.</p><p>King Jaehaerys, the First of His Name—known as the Conciliator,</p><p>and the Old King (being the only Targaryen ruler who lived to such</p><p>an advanced age)—died peacefully in his bed in 103 AC, while Lady</p><p>Alicent read to him from his friend Barth’s Unnatural History. He</p><p>was nine-and-sixty at his death, and had ruled wisely and well for</p><p>�ve-and-�fty years. Westeros mourned, and it was claimed that</p><p>even in Dorne men wept and women tore their garments in lament</p><p>for a king who had been so just and good. His ashes were interred</p><p>with that of his beloved, the Good Queen Alysanne, beneath the Red</p><p>Keep. And the realm never saw their like again.</p><p>King Jaehaerys I and Good Queen Alysanne with their son, Prince Aemon. (illustration credit</p><p>46)</p><p>The children of Jaehaerys I, the</p><p>Conciliator, and Good Queen</p><p>Alysanne, who lived to adulthood</p><p>PRINCE AEMON</p><p>Killed in battle against Myrish</p><p>pirates who had seized the eastern</p><p>side of Tarth.</p><p>PRINCE BAELON (called the Spring Prince for the season of his birth, and</p><p>Baelon the Brave)</p><p>When Septon Barth passed away in his sleep in 99 AC, the famed</p><p>Kingsguard knight Ser Ryam Redwyne was made Hand. But his</p><p>valor and prowess with sword and lance proved to not be matched</p><p>by his ability to rule. Baelon followed him as Hand less than a year</p><p>after, and served admirably. But while hunting in 101 AC, Prince</p><p>Baelon complained of a stitch in his side, and died within days of a</p><p>burst belly.</p><p>ARCHMAESTER VAEGON</p><p>Called the Dragonless, Vaegon was given to the Citadel from an</p><p>early age and held the ring and rod and mask of yellow gold when</p><p>he became an archmaester.</p><p>PRINCESS DAELLA</p><p>Wed to Lord Rodrik Arryn in 80 AC, Daella died in childbed after</p><p>delivering to him a daughter, Aemma.</p><p>PRINCESS ALYSSA</p><p>Alyssa was wife to her brother Baelon the Brave; two of her sons</p><p>would come to wear crowns.</p><p>PRINCESS VISERRA</p><p>Viserra was betrothed to Lord Manderly of White Harbor only to</p><p>die by mishap shortly afterward. A wild, high-spirited maid, she fell</p><p>from a horse while racing drunkenly through the streets of King’s</p><p>Landing.</p><p>SEPTA MAEGELLE</p><p>Given to the Faith, Maegelle grew to be a septa known for her</p><p>compassion and her gift for healing. She was the chief cause of the</p><p>reconciliation of the Old King and Queen Alysanne in 94 AC,</p><p>following the Second Quarrel. She nursed children a�icted with</p><p>greyscale, but she became a�icted with the same illness and died in</p><p>96 AC.</p><p>PRINCESS SAERA</p><p>Though given to the Faith as Maegelle was, Saera did not have</p><p>Maegelle’s temperament. She ran away from the motherhouse</p><p>where she was a novice and crossed the narrow sea. She was at Lys</p><p>for a time, then Old Volantis, where she ended her days as the</p><p>proprietor of a famous pleasure house.</p><p>PRINCESS GAEL (called the Winter Child)</p><p>Simple-minded but sweet, Gael was most beloved of the queen. She</p><p>disappeared from court in 99 AC, allegedly dying of a summer</p><p>fever, but in fact she had drowned herself in the Blackwater after</p><p>having been seduced and abandoned by a traveling singer, leaving</p><p>her with nothing but a growing belly. †</p><p>† In her grief, Queen Alysanne followed her to the grave less than a year afterward.</p><p>VISERYS I</p><p>AFTER THE LONG and peaceful reign of Jaehaerys I, Viserys</p><p>inherited a secure throne, a full treasury, and a legacy of goodwill</p><p>that his grandfather had cultivated over �fty years. House</p><p>Targaryen was never again so powerful as it was in Viserys’s reign.</p><p>More princes and princesses of the blood existed than at any other</p><p>time since the Doom, and there were never so many dragons at one</p><p>time as there were in the years 103 AC to 129 AC.</p><p>King Viserys I upon the Iron Throne. (illustration credit 47)</p><p>But the great upheaval of the Dance of the Dragons had its roots</p><p>in Viserys’s reign, and it was chie�y due to the blood royals. In the</p><p>early part of his reign, Viserys I’s chief annoyance was his own</p><p>brother, Prince Daemon Targaryen. Daemon was mercurial and</p><p>quick to take o�ense, but he was dashing, daring, and dangerous.</p><p>He was knighted at six-and-ten, like Maegor I, and Jaehaerys I</p><p>himself gave Daemon the Valyrian steel blade Dark Sister for his</p><p>prowess. He had been among the brashest of Viserys’s supporters</p><p>prior to the Great Council and had even gathered a small army of</p><p>sworn swords and men-at-arms when rumors claimed that Corlys</p><p>Velaryon was readying a �eet to defend the rights of his son,</p><p>Laenor. King Jaehaerys avoided bloodshed, but many remembered</p><p>that Daemon had been ready to come to blows over the matter.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>Though he had wed the Lady of Runestone in 97 AC,</p><p>during the Old King’s reign, the marriage had not been a</p><p>success. Prince Daemon found the Vale of Arryn boring</p><p>(“In the Vale, the men fuck sheep,” he wrote. “You cannot</p><p>fault them. Their sheep are prettier than their women.”),</p><p>and soon developed a mislike of his lady wife, whom he</p><p>called “my bronze bitch,” after the runic bronze armor</p><p>worn by the lords of House Royce.</p><p>Daemon had been wed to Rhea Royce in 97 AC when she was</p><p>heir to the ancient seat of Runestone in the Vale. It was a �ne, rich</p><p>match, but Daemon found the Vale little to his liking, and liked his</p><p>wife even less, and they were soon estranged.</p><p>It had likewise proved a barren union, and though Viserys I</p><p>refused his brother’s entreaties to set aside the marriage, he did</p><p>recall him to court to take up the burden of rule. Daemon served</p><p>�rst as master of coins, then master of law, but it was his chief</p><p>rival, the Hand Ser Otto Hightower, who �nally convinced Viserys</p><p>to remove him from these o�ces. So in 104 AC, Viserys made his</p><p>brother commander of the City Watch.</p><p>Prince Daemon improved the armaments and training of the</p><p>watch and gave them the golden cloaks that led them to be known</p><p>as the “gold cloaks” to this day. He often joined his men in</p><p>patrolling the city, swiftly becoming known to both the meanest</p><p>urchin and the wealthiest tradesman, and earned a certain dark</p><p>reputation in the stews and brothels where he was wont to make</p><p>free of the wares on o�er. Crime fell sharply, though some said it</p><p>was because Daemon delighted in meting out harsh punishments.</p><p>Yet those who bene�ted from his rule loved him well, and Daemon</p><p>soon became known as “Lord Flea Bottom.” Later still, after Viserys</p><p>refused him the title of Prince of Dragonstone, he came to be called</p><p>“the Prince of the City.” It was in the brothels of the city that he</p><p>found a favorite, a paramour—a very pale Lysene dancer named</p><p>Mysaria, whose looks and reputation led the prostitutes who knew</p><p>her to call her Misery, the White Worm. Later, she became</p><p>Daemon’s mistress of whisperers</p><p>Some said that Daemon’s support for his brother in the Great</p><p>Council was motivated by the belief he would be his brother’s heir.</p><p>But in Viserys’s mind, he already had an heir: Rhaenyra, his sole</p><p>daughter by his cousin, Queen Aemma of House Arryn. Rhaenyra</p><p>was born in 97 AC, and as a child her father doted upon her, and</p><p>took her everywhere with him—even to the council chamber, where</p><p>he encouraged her to watch and listen intently. For these reasons,</p><p>the court doted on her as well, and many paid homage to her. The</p><p>singers dubbed her the Realm’s Delight, for she was bright and</p><p>precocious—a beautiful child who was already a dragonrider at the</p><p>age of seven as she �ew on the back of her she-dragon Syrax,</p><p>named for one of the old gods of Valyria.</p><p>In 105 AC, her mother �nally delivered the son that the king and</p><p>queen had both longed for, but the queen died in childbirth, and the</p><p>boy—named Baelon—only survived her by a day. By this time,</p><p>Viserys I was heartily sick of being hectored over the succession,</p><p>and disregarding the precedents of 92 AC and the Great Council of</p><p>101 AC, he o�cially declared that Rhaenyra was Princess of</p><p>Dragonstone and his heir. A grand ceremony was arranged in which</p><p>hundreds of lords knelt to do homage to the princess while she sat</p><p>at her father’s feet. Prince Daemon was not among them.</p><p>Daemon Targaryen, the Prince of the City, with his gold cloaks. (illustration credit 48)</p><p>The year 105 AC holds one more event of note: the induction of</p><p>Ser Criston Cole into the Kingsguard. Born in 82 AC, as the son of a</p><p>steward in the service of the Dondarrions of Blackhaven, Criston</p><p>had risen to the attention of the court at a tourney in Maidenpool to</p><p>celebrate Viserys’s ascension to the throne, where he won the mêlée</p><p>and was the last but one in the jousting.</p><p>Black-haired, green-eyed, and comely, he proved a delight to the</p><p>ladies of the court—and to Princess Rhaenyra most of all. She took</p><p>a childish fancy to him, naming him “my white knight” and begging</p><p>her father to make him her sworn shield, which he did. After that,</p><p>Cole was always by her side and carried her favor in the lists. It was</p><p>said in later years that the princess only had eyes for Ser Criston,</p><p>but there is reason to doubt that this was wholly true.</p><p>Matters became more complicated when, with Ser Otto</p><p>Hightower’s</p><p>encouragement, King Viserys announced his intention</p><p>to wed the Lady Alicent, Ser Otto’s daughter and the Old King’s</p><p>former nursemaid. For the most part, the realm celebrated this</p><p>union. Rhaenyra, secure in her place as heir, welcomed her father’s</p><p>new bride, for they had long known one another at court. Not all</p><p>was so joyous in the Vale, however, where Prince Daemon was said</p><p>to have whipped the servant who brought him tidings of the</p><p>marriage, nor at Driftmark, where Lord Corlys and Princess</p><p>Rhaenys had seen their daughter, Laena, rejected by the king as</p><p>well.</p><p>Among the fruits of King Viserys’s marriage to Alicent was the</p><p>alliance between Prince Daemon and the Sea Snake. Tired of</p><p>waiting for a crown that seemed increasingly more distant, Daemon</p><p>was determined to carve out his own kingdom. In this, he and</p><p>Corlys Velaryon could make common cause, thanks to the</p><p>predations of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters—or the Triarchy,</p><p>as it was sometimes called—which was the union between Lys, Myr,</p><p>and Tyrosh that had been born out of a successful alliance against</p><p>Volantis. At �rst, this alliance was applauded in the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms, but soon they grew worse than the pirates and corsairs</p><p>they had defeated.</p><p>The �ghting began in 106 AC, with the Sea Snake providing the</p><p>�eet and Daemon providing Caraxes and his skill in commanding</p><p>men to lead the second sons and landless knights who �ocked to</p><p>Daemon’s banner. King Viserys contributed to their war, sending</p><p>gold for the hire of men and supplies.</p><p>They won many victories over the next two years, culminating in</p><p>Prince Daemon killing the Myrish prince—Admiral Craghas Drahar,</p><p>called Crabfeeder—in single combat. (When he learned that</p><p>Daemon had declared himself King of the Narrow Sea in 109 AC,</p><p>King Viserys was heard to say that his brother could keep his crown</p><p>if it “kept him out of trouble”.) It proved a premature claim to</p><p>victory, however. The Triarchy dispatched a new �eet and army the</p><p>following year, and Dorne joined the Triarchy in the war against</p><p>Daemon’s �edgling, petty kingdom.</p><p>In 107 AC, Alicent bore Viserys the boy Aegon, and the king</p><p>�nally had a son. Aegon was followed by a sister, Helaena, his</p><p>future bride, and by another son named Aemond. But the birth of a</p><p>son meant that the succession was once more called into question—</p><p>and not least by the queen herself, as well as her father the Hand,</p><p>who were anxious to see their blood set over Aemma’s. Ser Otto</p><p>overstepped himself, however, and in 109 AC he was replaced by</p><p>Lord Lyonel Strong, who had served ably as master of laws. For</p><p>King Viserys, the matter was long settled; Rhaenyra was his heir,</p><p>and he did not wish to hear arguments otherwise—despite the</p><p>decrees of the Great Council of 101, which always placed a man</p><p>above a woman.</p><p>The accounts and letters preserved from this time begin to speak</p><p>of a “queen’s party” and the “party of the princess.” Thanks to the</p><p>tourney of 111 AC, they were soon known by simpler names: the</p><p>greens and the blacks. At this tourney, we are told, Queen Alicent</p><p>was beautifully clad in a gown of green, while Rhaenyra left no one</p><p>in doubt of her inheritance by wearing black embellished with red,</p><p>for the banners of House Targaryen. This same tourney saw the</p><p>return of Daemon Targaryen, King of the Narrow Sea, from his</p><p>wars. He wore his crown when Caraxes alighted, but he knelt</p><p>before his brother and removed the crown, o�ering it up in a token</p><p>of fealty. Viserys raised him back up, returned the crown, and</p><p>kissed him upon both cheeks; for all the turmoil between them,</p><p>Viserys truly loved his brother. Those at the tourney cheered—but</p><p>none more loudly than Rhaenyra, who loved her dashing uncle well.</p><p>More than well, perhaps…though our sources are contradictory.</p><p>It was only a few moons later that Daemon was exiled. As for the</p><p>reason? Our sources di�er greatly. Some, such as Runciter and</p><p>Munkun, suggest that King Viserys and King Daemon quarreled (for</p><p>brotherly love rarely stands in the way of disagreements), and that</p><p>is why Daemon left. Others say that it was Alicent (at Ser Otto’s</p><p>prompting, possibly) who convinced Viserys that Daemon must</p><p>leave. But two speak more fully on the matter.</p><p>Septon Eustace’s The Reign of King Viserys, First of His Name, and</p><p>the Dance of the Dragons That Came After was written by the septon</p><p>after the war came to its end. Though dry and ponderous in his</p><p>writing, Eustace was clearly a con�dant of the Targaryens, and</p><p>speaks accurately of many things. Mushroom’s The Testimony of</p><p>Mushroom is another matter, however. A dwarf three feet tall, with</p><p>an enormous head (and an enormous member to go with it, if he is</p><p>to be believed), Mushroom was the court jester, and was thought to</p><p>be a lackwit. Therefore, the worthies of the court spoke freely</p><p>around him. His Testimony alleges to be his account of the events of</p><p>the years when he was at court, set down by a scribe whose name</p><p>we do not know, and it is �lled with Mushroom’s tales of plots,</p><p>murders, trysts, debaucheries, and more—and all in the most</p><p>explicit detail. Septon Eustace’s and Mushroom’s accounts are often</p><p>at odds with one another, but at times there are some surprising</p><p>areas of agreement between them.</p><p>Daemon Targaryen o�ers up his crown to Viserys I. (illustration credit 49)</p><p>Eustace claims that Daemon and Princess Rhaenyra were caught</p><p>abed together by Ser Arryk Cargyll, and it was this that made</p><p>Viserys exile his brother from the court. Mushroom tells a di�erent</p><p>tale, however: that Rhaenyra had eyes only for Ser Criston Cole, but</p><p>that the knight had declined her overtures. It was then that her</p><p>uncle o�ered to school her in the arts of love, so that she might</p><p>move the virtuous Ser Criston to break his vows. But when she</p><p>�nally thought herself ready to approach him, the knight—whom</p><p>Mushroom swears was as chaste and virtuous as an aged septa—</p><p>reacted in horror and disgust. Viserys soon heard of it. And</p><p>whatever version of the tale was true, we do know that Daemon</p><p>asked for Rhaenyra’s hand, if only Viserys would set aside his</p><p>marriage to Lady Rhea. Viserys refused, and instead exiled Daemon</p><p>from the Seven Kingdoms, never to return upon pain of death.</p><p>Daemon departed, returning to the Stepstones to continue with his</p><p>war.</p><p>Princess Rhaenyra, the Realm’s Delight. (illustration credit 50)</p><p>In 112 AC, Ser Harrold Westerling passed away and Ser Criston</p><p>Cole was made the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard in his place.</p><p>And in 113 AC, Princess Rhaenyra came of age. In the years before</p><p>this, many men had paid court to her (among them the heir to</p><p>Harrenhal, Ser Harwin Strong, who was called Breakbones and was</p><p>accounted the strongest knight in the realm), showering her with</p><p>gifts (as the twins Ser Jason and Ser Tyland Lannister did at</p><p>Casterly Rock), composing songs to her beauty, and even �ghting</p><p>duels for her favor (as sons of Lord Blackwood and Lord Bracken</p><p>had done). There was even talk of wedding her to the Prince of</p><p>Dorne, to unite the two realms at last. Queen Alicent (and Ser Otto,</p><p>her father) naturally advanced the suit of her son Prince Aegon,</p><p>though he was much younger. But the two siblings had never gotten</p><p>along, and Viserys knew his queen desired the match more out of</p><p>ambition for her son than out of Aegon’s love for Rhaenyra.</p><p>Ignoring all of these suits, Viserys turned instead to the Sea</p><p>Snake and Princess Rhaenys, whose son Laenor had once been his</p><p>rival at the Great Council of 101. Laenor had the blood of the</p><p>dragon on both sides, and even a dragon of his own—the splendid</p><p>grey-and-white dragon he called Seasmoke. Better, the match would</p><p>unite the two factions that had once stood opposed at the Great</p><p>Council of 101. Yet there was one problem: at the age of nine-and-</p><p>ten, Laenor preferred the company of squires of his own age, and</p><p>was said never to have known a woman intimately, nor to have any</p><p>bastards. But to this, Grand Maester Mellos was said to have</p><p>remarked, “What of it? I am not fond of �sh, but when �sh is</p><p>served, I eat it.”</p><p>Rhaenyra was of a di�erent mind entirely. Perhaps she harbored</p><p>hopes</p><p>of wedding Prince Daemon, as Eustace claims, or of seducing</p><p>Criston Cole to her bed, as Mushroom cheerfully suggests. But</p><p>Viserys would hear none of it, and against all her objections he</p><p>needed only to note that, if she refused the marriage, he would</p><p>reconsider the succession. And then came the �nal break between</p><p>Ser Criston Cole and Rhaenyra, though to this day we do not know</p><p>if it was instigated by Ser Criston or Rhaenyra. Did she try to</p><p>seduce him once more? Did he �nally admit his love, now that it</p><p>seemed she’d be wed, and tried to persuade her to run away with</p><p>him?</p><p>We cannot say. Nor can we say if there is any truth to the claim</p><p>that, after Cole left her, she instead gave up her maidenhood (if,</p><p>indeed, she still had it) to Ser Harwin Strong—a much less</p><p>scrupulous sort of knight. Mushroom claims that he himself found</p><p>them abed, but half of what he says cannot be trusted—and the</p><p>other half one sometimes wishes not to trust. What we can say for</p><p>certain is that in 114 AC, Princess Rhaenyra and the newly knighted</p><p>Ser Laenor were wed and, as is the custom, a tourney was held in</p><p>celebration. At this tourney, Rhaenyra had a new champion in</p><p>Breakbones, while Ser Criston for the �rst time wore the favor of</p><p>Queen Alicent. Accounts of the tourney all agree that Cole fought in</p><p>a black fury and defeated all challengers. He shattered Breakbone’s</p><p>collarbone and elbow, leading Mushroom to dub him Brokenbones,</p><p>but the worst injuries he meted out were to Laenor’s favorite, the</p><p>handsome knight Ser Jo�rey Lonmouth, who was called the Knight</p><p>of Kisses. Ser Jo�rey was borne from the �eld senseless and bloody,</p><p>and lingered for six days before dying, leaving Laenor to weep</p><p>bitter tears of grief.</p><p>Afterward, Ser Laenor departed for Driftmark, and some</p><p>wondered if the marriage had even been consummated. Rhaenyra</p><p>and her husband largely spent their time apart, she on Dragonstone</p><p>and he on Driftmark. Yet if the realm worried about her heirs, they</p><p>need not wait long. Near the end of 114 AC, Rhaenyra delivered a</p><p>healthy boy whom she named Jacaerys (not Jo�rey, as Ser Laenor</p><p>had hoped), called Jace by friends and family. And yet…Rhaenyra</p><p>was of the blood of the dragon, and Ser Laenor likewise had the</p><p>aquiline nose, �ne features, silver-white hair, and purple eyes that</p><p>bespoke his own Valyrian heritage. Why, then, did Jacaerys have</p><p>brown hair and eyes, and a pug nose? Many looked at them, and</p><p>then at the hulking Ser Harwin Strong—now chief of the blacks, and</p><p>Rhaenyra’s constant companion—and wondered.</p><p>Rhaenyra bore two more sons—Lucerys (called Luke) and Jo�rey</p><p>—during her marriage to Ser Laenor Velaryon, and each one was</p><p>born healthy and strapping, with the brown hair and pug nose that</p><p>neither Rhaenyra nor Laenor possessed. Among the greens, it was</p><p>said that they were obviously the sons of Breakbones, and many</p><p>doubted whether they could be dragonriders. But at Viserys’s</p><p>command, each had a dragon’s egg placed in his cradle, and each</p><p>egg hatched, producing the dragons Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes.</p><p>The king, for his part, ignored the rumors, for he clearly meant to</p><p>keep Rhaenyra as his heir.</p><p>Four tragedies in 120 AC caused it to be remembered as the Year</p><p>of the Red Spring (not to be confused with the Red Spring of 236</p><p>AC), for it laid the foundation for the Dance of the Dragons. The</p><p>�rst of these tragedies was the death of Laena Velaryon, Laenor’s</p><p>sister. Once considered as a bride for Viserys, she had wed Prince</p><p>Daemon in 115 AC after his wife, Lady Rhea, died while hunting in</p><p>the Vale. (Daemon, meanwhile, had grown tired of the Stepstones</p><p>and had given up his crown; �ve other men would follow him as</p><p>Kings of the Narrow Sea, until that sellsword “kingdom” ended for</p><p>good and all.)</p><p>Laena gave Daemon two twin daughters, Baela and Rhaena.</p><p>Though King Viserys had at �rst been angered by the marriage,</p><p>which took place without his leave, he allowed Daemon to present</p><p>his daughters at court in 117 AC, against the objections of his small</p><p>council; he still loved his brother and perhaps thought that</p><p>fatherhood would temper him. In 120 AC, Laena was brought to bed</p><p>again with child, and delivered the son that Daemon had always</p><p>desired. What was drawn from her womb was twisted and</p><p>deformed, however, and died shortly after birth. Laena, too, soon</p><p>expired.</p><p>But it was her parents, Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys, who</p><p>had the greater cause to lament that year. They still mourned their</p><p>daughter when their son was taken. All accounts agree that Laenor</p><p>was attending a market fair at Spicetown when he was murdered.</p><p>Eustace named his friend and companion (and lover, as some would</p><p>have it) Ser Qarl Correy, saying they quarreled because Laenor</p><p>meant to put him aside for a new favorite. Blades were drawn, and</p><p>Laenor was killed. Ser Qarl �ed, never to be seen again. Mushroom,</p><p>however, suggests a blacker tale: that Prince Daemon had paid</p><p>Correy to murder Laenor, to free Rhaenyra for himself.</p><p>The third tragedy was the ugly squabble between the sons of</p><p>Alicent and the sons of Rhaenyra, caused when the dragonless</p><p>Aemond Targaryen attempted to claim the late Laena’s dragon,</p><p>Vhagar, for himself. Pushes and shoves were followed by �sts after</p><p>Aemond mocked Rhaenyra’s boys as the “Strongs”—until young</p><p>Prince Lucerys took a knife and plunged it into Aemond’s eye.</p><p>Afterward, Aemond was known as Aemond One-eye—though he did</p><p>manage to win Vhagar. (He had opportunity to avenge the loss of</p><p>his eye in the years to come, though the realm would bleed because</p><p>of it.)</p><p>Before her marriage to Daemon, Laena had been betrothed</p><p>for almost a decade to the son of a former Sealord of</p><p>Braavos, but the youth had squandered his father’s fortune</p><p>and in�uence and had become nothing but a hanger-on at</p><p>High Tide and an embarrassment to Lord Corlys. It was no</p><p>great surprise when Daemon, paying a visit after his wife’s</p><p>death, saw Laena (who was said to be surpassingly lovely)</p><p>and spoke in private with the Sea Snake about a marriage.</p><p>Soon after, Prince Daemon provoked her Braavosi</p><p>betrothed so mercilessly that the youth challenged him to a</p><p>single combat.</p><p>So ended the Sealord’s wastrel son.</p><p>The sons of Princess Rhaenyra (l. to r.): Jacaerys, Jo�rey, and Lucerys. (illustration credit 51)</p><p>In the end, Viserys attempted to make peace, and he did so by</p><p>proclaiming that any man or woman who questioned the paternity</p><p>of Rhaenyra’s children would have his or her tongue torn out. He</p><p>then commanded Alicent and his sons to return to King’s Landing,</p><p>while Rhaenyra was to remain with her sons at Dragonstone, so that</p><p>they might not quarrel again. Ser Erryk Cargyll remained at</p><p>Dragonstone as Rhaenyra’s sworn shield, taking the place of Ser</p><p>Harwin Strong, who returned to Harrenhal.</p><p>The last tragedy—and some might say the least—was the �re at</p><p>Harrenhal that took the lives of Lord Lyonel and his son and heir,</p><p>Ser Harwin. But those who speak so are ignorant. Viserys, now old</p><p>and weary, and increasingly disinterested in the governance of the</p><p>realm, was left without a Hand, while Rhaenyra was left without</p><p>both a husband and, as some claimed, a paramour. Some accounts</p><p>see it as an accident, no more. But others suggest more wicked</p><p>possibilities. Some believe that Larys Clubfoot—one of the king’s</p><p>inquisitors and Lord Lyonel’s youngest son—might have arranged it</p><p>so that he might rule Harrenhal. Other histories even hint that</p><p>Prince Daemon himself was behind it.</p><p>Rather than bring in a new Hand, the king recalled Ser Otto from</p><p>Oldtown at Alicent’s urging and named him Hand again. And rather</p><p>than mourn her late husband, Rhaenyra at last wed her uncle,</p><p>Prince Daemon. In the last days of 120 AC, she even delivered to</p><p>him his �rst son, whom she named Aegon, after the Conqueror.</p><p>(When she learned of it, Queen Alicent was said to be enraged, for</p><p>her own eldest son also bore the Conqueror’s name. The two Aegons</p><p>came to be known as Aegon the Elder and Aegon the Younger.) The</p><p>year 122 AC saw Rhaenyra and Daemon delivered of a second son,</p><p>Viserys. Viserys was not so robust as Aegon the Younger or his</p><p>Velaryon half siblings, but he proved precocious. Some took it as an</p><p>omen, however, when the dragon egg placed in his cradle did not</p><p>hatch.</p><p>And so matters progressed, until the fateful day in 129 AC when</p><p>Viserys I at last died. His son, Aegon the Elder, had wed his</p><p>daughter, Helaena, and Helaena had borne to Aegon the twins</p><p>Jaehaerys and Jaehaera (the latter of whom was a strange child,</p><p>slow to grow, never weeping or smiling as children do), and</p><p>another son named Maelor in 127 AC. On Driftmark, the Sea Snake</p><p>began to fail and took to his bed. Viserys, now in the winter of his</p><p>years but still hearty, injured himself on the Iron Throne in 128 AC</p><p>after rendering a judgment. The wound became dangerously</p><p>infected, and in the end Maester Orwyle (who had succeeded</p><p>Maester Mellos in the previous year) was forced to amputate two</p><p>�ngers. That measure was not stringent enough, however, and as</p><p>128 ended and 129 began, Viserys was growing increasingly ill.</p><p>On the third day of the third moon of 129 AC, while entertaining</p><p>Jaehaerys and Jaehaera from his bed with a tale of their great-</p><p>great-grandsire and his queen battling giants, mammoths, and</p><p>wildlings beyond the Wall, the king grew tired. He sent his</p><p>grandchildren away when the tale was done and fell into a sleep</p><p>from which he never awoke. He had ruled for six-and-twenty years,</p><p>reigning over the most prosperous era in the history of the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms but seeding within it the disastrous decline of his house</p><p>and the death of the last of the dragons.</p><p>The sons of King Viserys (l. to r.): Aegon, Daeron, and Aemond.</p><p>AEGON II</p><p>NO WAR WAS ever bloodier or crueler than the Dance of the</p><p>Dragons, as the singers and Munkun have chosen to name it. It was</p><p>the worst kind of war—a war between siblings. Despite Viserys’s</p><p>unwavering preference for Rhaenyra, Prince Aegon was convinced</p><p>to take up his father’s crown, by his mother and the small council,</p><p>before Viserys I’s corpse was cold. When Rhaenyra, the Princess of</p><p>Dragonstone, learned of it, she fell into a rage. She was, at the time,</p><p>in con�nement at Dragonstone, awaiting the birth of her third child</p><p>to Prince Daemon.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>On Dragonstone, no cheers were heard. Instead, screams</p><p>echoed through the halls and stairwells of Sea Dragon</p><p>Tower, and down from the queen’s apartments where</p><p>Rhaenyra Targaryen strained and shuddered in her third</p><p>day of labor. The child had not been due for another turn</p><p>of the moon, but the tidings from King’s Landing had</p><p>driven the princess into a black fury, and her rage seemed</p><p>to bring on the birth, as if the babe inside her were angry</p><p>too, and �ghting to get out. The princess shrieked curses</p><p>all through her labor, calling down the wroth of the gods</p><p>upon her half brothers and their mother, the queen, and</p><p>detailing the torments she would in�ict upon them before</p><p>she would let them die. She cursed the child inside her too,</p><p>Mushroom tells us. “Get out,” she screamed, clawing at her</p><p>swollen belly as her maester and her midwife tried to</p><p>restrain her. “Monster, monster, get out, get out, GET OUT!”</p><p>When the babe at last came forth, she proved indeed a</p><p>monster: a stillborn girl, twisted and malformed, with a</p><p>hole in her chest where her heart should have been, and a</p><p>stubby, scaled tail. Or so Mushroom describes her. The</p><p>dwarf tells us that it was he who carried the little thing to</p><p>the yard for burning. The dead girl had been named</p><p>Visenya, Princess Rhaenyra announced the next day, when</p><p>milk of the poppy had blunted the edge of her pain. “She</p><p>was my only daughter, and they killed her. They stole my</p><p>crown and murdered my daughter, and they shall answer</p><p>for it.”</p><p>Once past the birth, Rhaenyra prepared for war. Both she and</p><p>Alicent had their supporters among their kin—and among the great</p><p>lords of the realm. And each side had dragons. It was a recipe for</p><p>disaster, and so it proved. The realm bled as it never had before,</p><p>and it would be years before all the scars were healed.</p><p>Mushroom’s claim that Queen Alicent had hurried her husband’s</p><p>demise with a “pinch of poison” in his wine we may, perhaps,</p><p>dismiss. But none can doubt that the �rst blood to be spilled in the</p><p>Dance was that of the aged master of coin, Lord Beesbury, when he</p><p>insisted that Viserys’s true heir was Rhaenyra, and that she must be</p><p>crowned. The accounts di�er as to how this dissenter was removed.</p><p>Some say he died of a chill after being thrown into the black cells,</p><p>and some that Ser Criston Cole—the Lord Commander who would</p><p>soon be called the Kingmaker—opened his throat with his dagger</p><p>there at the table. Mushroom disagrees, suggesting Cole threw</p><p>Beesbury out a window—though it should be remembered that</p><p>Mushroom was on Dragonstone at this time, with Rhaenyra. But</p><p>that was far from the last murder in the early days of the Dance.</p><p>However, the most lamentable were the murders of the young</p><p>princes Lucerys Velaryon, the son of Rhaenyra, and Jaehaerys, the</p><p>son and heir of Aegon.</p><p>Luke Velaryon’s death was witnessed by many eyes at the court</p><p>of Storm’s End, and the accounts largely agree. Dispatched by his</p><p>mother to Storm’s End to enlist Lord Borros’s support, he arrived to</p><p>�nd Prince Aemond Targaryen there before him. Aemond was</p><p>older, stronger, and crueler than Lucerys—and he hated Lucerys</p><p>with a passion, for it was Lucerys who had cost him his eye nine</p><p>years earlier. Lord Borros denied Aemond his desire for revenge</p><p>inside his hall—but stated that he had no care whatever for what</p><p>happened without. So Prince Aemond, upon Vhagar, chased down</p><p>the �eeing Lucerys and his young dragon Arrax. The prince and his</p><p>dragon—hampered by the storm raging outside the castle walls—</p><p>both died within sight of Storm’s End, plummeting into the sea.</p><p>Rhaenyra, the accounts all say, collapsed at the news. Not so,</p><p>Lucerys’s stepfather, Prince Daemon Targaryen. The words Prince</p><p>Daemon sent to Dragonstone after having learned the news of</p><p>Lucerys’s death were, “An eye for an eye, a son for a son. Lucerys</p><p>shall be avenged.” He was the Prince of the City, and he still had</p><p>many friends in the stews and brothels of King’s Landing. Chief of</p><p>them was his once-paramour, Mysaria, the White Worm. She</p><p>arranged his vengeance, hiring a brute and a rat-catcher known to</p><p>history as Blood and Cheese. Thanks to his profession, the rat-</p><p>catcher knew all the secrets of Maegor’s tunnels. Slipping into the</p><p>Red Keep, Blood and Cheese seized hold of Queen Helaena and her</p><p>children…and then o�ered Aegon II’s wife a brutal choice: which</p><p>of her sons would die? She wept and pled and o�ered her own life</p><p>to no avail. In the end, she named Maelor—the youngest, and</p><p>deemed too young to understand. Blood and Cheese killed Prince</p><p>Jaehaerys instead, as his mother screamed her horror. Then Blood</p><p>and Cheese �ed with the prince’s head; true to their word that they</p><p>were only after one of Aegon’s sons.</p><p>The deaths of Prince Lucerys and his dragon, Arrax. (illustration credit 52)</p><p>At the outset of the war, Aegon II’s chief supporters were</p><p>Lord Hightower, Lord Lannister, and eventually Lord</p><p>Baratheon. Lord Tully desired to �ght for the king, but was</p><p>old and bedridden, and his grandson de�ed him.</p><p>Rhaenyra’s chief supporters were her good-father Lord</p><p>Velaryon, her cousin Lady Jeyne Arryn, and Lord Stark</p><p>(though his help was slow in coming, as he kept every man</p><p>to harvest what they could before winter fell on the</p><p>North). Lord Greyjoy attacked the westerlands in her</p><p>name, as well, to the shock of King Aegon, who had</p><p>courted his support. The Tullys eventually joined</p><p>Rhaenyra’s cause, in de�ance of the late Lord Tully’s</p><p>wishes. The Tyrells, however, remained uninvolved in the</p><p>war, as did the Dornishmen.</p><p>These were not the only murders in that long and brutal war. As</p><p>piteous as Jaehaerys’s death was, that of little Prince Maelor, who</p><p>did not long survive his brother, was worse. Ser Rickard Thorne of</p><p>the Kingsguard was dispatched to carry Maelor away in secret to</p><p>Oldtown, where he would be secure in the Hightower, but at</p><p>Bitterbridge he was stopped and brought down</p><p>by a mob. Maelor</p><p>himself was torn apart at Bitterbridge as the men and women of the</p><p>mob each struggled to claim the infant as their own prize. When</p><p>Lord Hightower razed Bitterbridge in revenge and came to exact</p><p>justice on Lady Caswell, she begged mercy for her children before</p><p>hanging herself from her castle walls.</p><p>Even the Kingsguard were enlisted into the strife. Ser Criston</p><p>Cole dispatched Ser Arryk Cargyll to Dragonstone with the intention</p><p>of having him in�ltrate the citadel in the guise of his twin, Ser</p><p>Erryk. There, he was to kill Rhaenyra (or her children; accounts</p><p>di�er). Yet as chance would have it, Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk met by</p><p>happenstance in one of the halls of the citadel. The singers tell us</p><p>that they professed their love for one another before the steel</p><p>clashed, and fought with love and duty in their hearts for an hour</p><p>before they died weeping in one another’s arms. The account of</p><p>Mushroom, who claims to have witnessed the duel, says the reality</p><p>was far more brutal: they condemned one another for traitors, and</p><p>within moments had mortally wounded each other.</p><p>While this took place, Ser Criston Cole decided to punish the</p><p>“black lords”—those bannermen of the crownlands who remained</p><p>loyal to Rhaenyra. Rosby, Stokeworth, and Duskendale fell before</p><p>him, but at Rook’s Rest, Lord Staunton had already received word</p><p>of Cole’s arrival. Instead of �ghting, he barricaded himself in his</p><p>castle, then dispatched a raven to Dragonstone, begging for aid.</p><p>On Dragonstone, where the Targaryens had long ruled, the</p><p>common folk had seen their beautiful, foreign rulers</p><p>almost as gods. Many maids de�owered by Targaryen lords</p><p>accounted themselves blessed if a “dragonseed” was</p><p>planted in their womb, and for this reason there were</p><p>many on Dragonstone who could rightly claim—or at least</p><p>suspect—that some Targaryen blood ran in their veins.</p><p>That aid arrived in the form of Princess Rhaenys—then �ve-and-</p><p>�fty, but as fearless and determined as she had been in her youth—</p><p>and her dragon Meleys, the Red Queen. But Cole had brought</p><p>dragons too—for Aegon II himself arrived on the �eld upon</p><p>Sunfyre, and his brother Aemond One-eye rode Vhagar, the greatest</p><p>living dragon.</p><p>It is recounted that Princess Rhaenys, the Queen Who Never Was,</p><p>did not shrink from her foe. With a glad cry and a crack of her</p><p>whip, she sent Meleys �ying up to face them. Only Vhagar and</p><p>Aemond came out of that battle unscathed; Sunfyre was crippled,</p><p>and King Aegon II barely survived, su�ering broken ribs, a broken</p><p>hip, and burns that covered half his body. Worst was his left arm,</p><p>where the dragon�re melted the king’s armor into his �esh.</p><p>Rhaenys’s body was found several days later amidst the ruin of the</p><p>Red Queen’s corpse, but so burned as to be unrecognizable.</p><p>Aegon spent the next year of his reign in isolation, healing from</p><p>his terrible wounds, but the war raged on. And while King Aegon</p><p>had many advantages in the war with his elder sister, his strength in</p><p>dragons was not among them. At the war’s outset, Aegon counted</p><p>only four dragons large enough to �ght, while his sister had eight</p><p>and access to still more. First were three older dragons that had yet</p><p>to be claimed by new riders: Silverwing, Queen Alysanne’s old</p><p>mount; Seasmoke, who had been the pride of Ser Laenor Velaryon;</p><p>and Vermithor, unridden since the death of King Jaehaerys. Then</p><p>there were three wild dragons that might be tamed if riders could</p><p>be found: the Cannibal, said by the smallfolk to have lurked on</p><p>Dragonstone even before the Targaryens came (though Munkun and</p><p>Barth are dubious of this claim); Grey Ghost, shy of people, gorging</p><p>on �sh it plucked from the sea; and the Sheepstealer, brown and</p><p>plain, preferring to feed on what sheep it could steal from the</p><p>sheepfolds. Prince Jacaerys announced (with the prompting of</p><p>Mushroom, if his Testimony is to be believed) that any man or</p><p>woman who could ride one of these dragons would be ennobled.</p><p>Princess Rhaenys upon Meleys attacking King Aegon II upon Sunfyre. (illustration credit 53)</p><p>Many attempted to mount the dragons that were still available</p><p>on Dragonstone. The most perilous of these were the wild dragons,</p><p>so it was no wonder that the dragons who had previously accepted</p><p>riders were the �rst to �nd new riders. Among these new</p><p>dragonriders was Addam of Hull—a brave and noble youth who was</p><p>brought by his mother, Marilda of Hull, to try for a dragon along</p><p>with his brother Alyn. She revealed that the boys were the sons of</p><p>Laenor Velaryon—a fact that many found remarkable, but which</p><p>Lord Corlys did not question when he adopted them both into</p><p>House Velaryon.</p><p>Mushroom puts forward a more plausible possibility on</p><p>Addam and Alyn’s parentage: that it was Lord Corlys</p><p>himself who fathered both boys, back when he spent many</p><p>of his days at the shipyards of Hull where Marilda’s father</p><p>was a shipwright. The boys had gone unacknowledged,</p><p>kept far from court, while the �ery-tempered Queen Who</p><p>Never Was lived. But after her death, Lord Corlys took the</p><p>opportunity to acknowledge them…after a fashion.</p><p>Addam claimed Laenor’s dragon, Seasmoke. His brother, Alyn,</p><p>had less success with Sheepstealer, and for the rest of his days bore</p><p>the marks of the dragon’s �ames on his back and legs.</p><p>Sheepstealer was eventually tamed by Nettles—a plain, baseborn,</p><p>disreputable girl who fed the dragon mutton day by day until it</p><p>became used to her. The dragon and its rider played their part in</p><p>the war, but Nettles’s loyalties were not so clear as brave Ser</p><p>Addam’s. When she and Prince Daemon became lovers, it drove a</p><p>�nal wedge between Rhaenyra and her lord husband. Nettles—</p><p>whom the prince fondly called Netty—outlived her prince as well as</p><p>his wife. Nettles and the Sheepstealer vanished before the war’s</p><p>end, and none could say where they went until years after.</p><p>But of all the new dragonriders, the worst were the drunkard</p><p>named Ulf the Sot, who took the name Ulf the White once knighted,</p><p>and the huge and powerful blacksmith’s bastard Hugh the Hammer,</p><p>also called Hard Hugh, who became known as Hugh Hammer when</p><p>he received his knighthood. Not satis�ed with the honor of riding</p><p>upon the dragons Silverwing and Vermithor, they desired lordships</p><p>and wealth. After �rst �ghting for Rhaenyra, they turned their</p><p>cloaks at the First Battle of Tumbleton in return for lordships, and</p><p>were cursed as the Two Betrayers ever after. Both died miserable</p><p>deaths, killed by the men they thought beholden to them—the one</p><p>by poisoned wine, the other slain by Bold Jon Roxton with Orphan-</p><p>Maker.</p><p>The battles during the Dance cannot be readily counted, for they</p><p>were almost beyond number, and much of the realm was torn</p><p>asunder in the con�ict. Men raised the banner of the king, bearing</p><p>the golden three-headed dragon that Aegon had taken for his sigil,</p><p>only to �nd their neighbor had taken up Rhaenyra’s red dragon</p><p>quartered with the moon-and-falcon of her Arryn mother and the</p><p>seahorse of her late husband. Brother fought brother, father fought</p><p>son, and the whole realm bled.</p><p>Many of the hosts were gathered by various lords on behalf of</p><p>the king or queen they supported, but if any could be said to have</p><p>held command of all the loyal forces on each side, they were Prince</p><p>Daemon Targaryen and Prince Aemond Targaryen respectively.</p><p>Aemond took up the mantle of Protector of the Realm and Prince</p><p>Regent after both Aegon II and Sunfyre were gravely injured at</p><p>Rook’s Rest in the battle with Rhaenys and Meleys. He even donned</p><p>his brother’s crown—Aegon the Conqueror’s crown of rubies and</p><p>Valyrian steel—though he did not call himself king.</p><p>When Rhaenyra learned of the betrayal of Hugh Hammer</p><p>and Ulf the White at First Tumbleton, where they turned</p><p>their dragons against her forces, her rage was such that she</p><p>tried to arrest the other dragonseed who had taken dragons</p><p>at her behest. Among them was Addam Velaryon, but he</p><p>was forewarned by the Sea Snake, and so escaped.</p><p>Young Ser Addam died bravely at the Second Battle of</p><p>Tumbleton, proving his faithfulness with his life after it</p><p>had been called into question</p><p>by the deeds of the Two</p><p>Betrayers. When his bones were returned to Driftmark</p><p>from Raventree Hall in 138 AC, the epitaph Lord Alyn put</p><p>on his tomb consisted of one word: “LOYAL.”</p><p>Sadly for the greens, this proved to be unfortunate. Aemond was</p><p>too inexperienced and too bold to take e�ective command. Prince</p><p>Daemon was, at the time, in control of Harrenhal. So Aemond</p><p>brashly planned an assault to take Harrenhal from his rival,</p><p>denuding King’s Landing of defenders in the process. He arrived to</p><p>�nd the castle empty and was jubilant—until he learned the real</p><p>reason for the desertion. For while Aemond had been marching on</p><p>Harrenhal, Daemon had met Queen Rhaenyra and her dragonriders</p><p>over King’s Landing, their dragons wheeling above the city. The</p><p>gold cloaks—many of whom still considered themselves loyal to</p><p>Daemon—betrayed the o�cers Aegon had put in charge and</p><p>surrendered the city with little bloodshed, though blood was spilled</p><p>in the executions that followed as Ser Otto Hightower, Lord Jasper</p><p>Wylde (the master of laws, called Ironrod for his sternness), and</p><p>Lords Rosby and Stokeworth (who had once been of Rhaenyra’s</p><p>party before turning their cloaks) were beheaded. The Dowager</p><p>Queen Alicent was imprisoned, but Aegon II (still recovering from</p><p>the injuries he received at Rook’s Rest) and his remaining children</p><p>—as well as Lord Larys Strong—had been spirited out of the castle</p><p>by secret ways.</p><p>The realm truly went mad during the Dance of the Dragons, but</p><p>it was at King’s Landing where most of the dragons lost their lives.</p><p>King’s Landing had fallen bloodlessly to Rhaenyra, thanks to Prince</p><p>Daemon’s cunning, but after the First Battle of Tumbleton, unrest</p><p>spread throughout the city. Only sixty leagues away, Tumbleton had</p><p>been sacked in the most savage fashion: thousands burned,</p><p>thousands more drowned attempting to swim across the river to</p><p>safety, girls and women were ravished until they died, and dragons</p><p>feeding among the ruins. The victory Lord Hightower had won with</p><p>the aid of Prince Daeron and the Two Betrayers sent terror through</p><p>the city, as the Kingslanders were sure they would be next.</p><p>Rhaenyra’s own strength was scattered and spent, so that there</p><p>were only dragons left to defend the city.</p><p>Princess Rhaenys upon Meleys attacking King Aegon II upon Sunfyre. (illustration credit 54)</p><p>It was the fear of dragons, and of their presence, that gave birth</p><p>to the Shepherd. Who he was we cannot say, as his name is lost to</p><p>history. Some suppose he was a poor beggar, others that he might</p><p>have been one of the Poor Fellows who, though outlawed, still</p><p>stubbornly haunted the realm. Whoever he was, he began to preach</p><p>in the Cobbler’s Square, saying that the dragons were demons, the</p><p>spawn of godless Valyria, and the doom of men. Scores listened—</p><p>then hundreds, then thousands. Fear begat anger, and anger begat a</p><p>thirst for blood. And when the Shepherd announced that the city</p><p>would be saved only when the city was cleansed of dragons, people</p><p>listened.</p><p>On the twenty-second day of the �fth moon of the year 130 AC,</p><p>Aemond One-eye and Daemon Targaryen entered their last battle.</p><p>On that same day, chaos and death seized King’s Landing. Queen</p><p>Rhaenyra had imprisoned Lord Corlys for helping his grandson, Ser</p><p>Addam Velaryon, escape arrest when he was accused of treason.</p><p>Some of the Sea Snake’s sworn swords joined the riotous mob in</p><p>Cobbler’s Square, and some scaled the walls to try to free the Sea</p><p>Snake, only to be hanged when they were caught. Queen Helaena</p><p>then fell to her death, impaled on the spikes surrounding Maegor’s</p><p>Holdfast—a suicide some said, and others a murder. And that night,</p><p>the city burned as the Shepherd’s mob marched on the Dragonpit,</p><p>attempting to slay all the dragons within.</p><p>THE MOST NOTABLE BATTLES OF THE DANCE</p><p>THE BATTLES OF 129 AC</p><p>BATTLE OF THE BURNING MILL, where Prince Daemon and the</p><p>Blackwoods defeated the Brackens and took the Stone Hedge.</p><p>BATTLE OF THE GULLET, where Corlys Velaryon’s �eet was</p><p>defeated by the ships of the Triarchy, Aegon’s allies. This battle</p><p>resulted in the death of Jacaerys, Prince of Dragonstone, and</p><p>Vermax, his dragon—and the death of Prince Aegon the</p><p>Younger’s dragon, Stormcloud.</p><p>BATTLE OF THE HONEYWINE, where Aegon the Elder’s youngest</p><p>brother Prince Daeron won his spurs saving Lord Hightower’s</p><p>host from lords Rowan, Tarly, and Costayne.</p><p>THE BATTLES OF 130 AC</p><p>BATTLE AT THE RED FORK, where the westermen broke the</p><p>riverlords and swarmed into the riverlands, but not before Lord</p><p>Jason Lannister was mortally wounded by the squire Pate of</p><p>Longleaf.</p><p>BATTLE OF THE LAKESHORE (called the Fishfeed)—the bloodiest</p><p>land battle of the war on the shores of the Gods Eye—where</p><p>the Lannister host was driven into the lake by the riverlords</p><p>and died in the thousands.</p><p>BUTCHER’S BALL, where Aegon II’s Hand, Ser Criston Cole,</p><p>challenged Ser Garibald Grey, Lord Roderick Dustin (called the</p><p>Ruin), and Ser Pate of Longleaf (called the Lionslayer) and was</p><p>refused. Cole was killed ingloriously by arrows rather than by</p><p>the sword, and his host was destroyed thereafter.</p><p>Dark Sister. (illustration credit 55)</p><p>FIRST BATTLE OF TUMBLETON, where the Two Betrayers</p><p>(dragonriders Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer) turned their</p><p>cloaks, and the remaining Winter Wolves (the grizzled</p><p>Northmen who followed Lord Dustin to war) cut their way</p><p>through ten times their number. This resulted in the deaths of</p><p>Lord Ormund Hightower, who led the forces of the greens, and</p><p>his famous cousin Ser Brynden at the hands of Lord Roderick</p><p>Dustin, who was also slain. The savage sack of Tumbleton</p><p>followed.</p><p>STORMING OF THE DRAGONPIT, no true battle, where an unruly</p><p>mob, under the leadership of a man known as the Shepherd,</p><p>went mad. This resulted in the death of �ve dragons; the loss of</p><p>both Ser Willum Royce and the Valyrian sword Lamentation</p><p>that he bore; and the deaths of Ser Glendon Goode, who was</p><p>Lord Commander of the Queensguard for one day, and Jo�rey,</p><p>Prince of Dragonstone.</p><p>BATTLE ABOVE THE GODS EYE, where the infamous duel between</p><p>Prince Aemond One-eye and Prince Daemon Targaryen—and</p><p>between Vhagar and Caraxes—took place. It is said that</p><p>Daemon leapt from Caraxes to Vhagar, and slew Prince</p><p>Aemond with Dark Sister as the dragons fell to the waters</p><p>below. Vhagar and Caraxes died in turn, as did Daemon</p><p>Targaryen, though his bones were never recovered.</p><p>SECOND BATTLE OF TUMBLETON, where the dragons truly danced.</p><p>This resulted in the mysterious death of Prince Daeron the</p><p>Daring, the brave death of Ser Addam Velaryon, and the deaths</p><p>of Seasmoke, Tessarion, and Vermithor.</p><p>THE BATTLE OF 131 AC</p><p>BATTLE OF THE KINGSROAD, dubbed by those who fought in it “the</p><p>Muddy Mess,” which was the last battle of the war. This</p><p>resulted in the death of Lord Borros Baratheon at the hands of</p><p>young Lord Tully.</p><p>Young Jo�rey Velaryon, the Prince of Dragonstone, plummeted</p><p>to his death when trying to ride his mother’s dragon, Syrax, to the</p><p>Dragonpit in order to save his own dragon, Tyraxes. Neither dragon</p><p>survived. Wild tales and rumors followed about the deaths of the</p><p>dragons: that some were hewn down by men, others by the</p><p>Shepherd, others by the Warrior himself. Whatever the truth, �ve</p><p>dragons died that bloody night as the mobs broke into the huge</p><p>dome and found the dragons chained, and people perished in</p><p>droves. Half the dragons that began the Dance were already dead,</p><p>and the war was not yet over. Rhaenyra �ed the city shortly after.</p><p>An end did come at last, but it was not the deaths of dragons or</p><p>of princes that brought it about, but instead the death of the queen</p><p>and the king for whom they (and tens of thousands more) had</p><p>perished. Rhaenyra died �rst. When her husband Prince Daemon</p><p>fell, House Velaryon turned against her. With her enemies once</p><p>more in possession of King’s Landing, she �ed practically penniless,</p><p>and was forced to sell her crown to �nd passage to Dragonstone.</p><p>But when she arrived, she found a freshly injured Aegon II there</p><p>before her, with his dying dragon, Sunfyre.</p><p>The Storming of the Dragonpit. (illustration</p><p>Winter to the shores of the Summer</p><p>Sea. They made their homes simply, constructing no holdfasts or</p><p>castles or cities. Instead they resided in the woods, in crannogs, in</p><p>bogs and marshes, and even in caverns and hollow hills. It is said</p><p>that, in the woods, they made shelters of leaves and withes up in</p><p>the branches of trees—secret tree “towns.”</p><p>It has long been held that they did this for protection from</p><p>predators such as direwolves or shadowcats, which their simple</p><p>stone weapons—and even their vaunted greenseers—were not proof</p><p>against. But other sources dispute this, stating that their greatest</p><p>foes were the giants, as hinted at in tales told in the North, and as</p><p>possibly proved by Maester Kennet in the study of a barrow near</p><p>the Long Lake—a giant’s burial with obsidian arrowheads found</p><p>amidst the extant ribs. It brings to mind a transcription of a wildling</p><p>song in Maester Herryk’s History of the Kings-Beyond-the-Wall,</p><p>regarding the brothers Gendel and Gorne. They were called upon to</p><p>mediate a dispute between a clan of children and a family of giants</p><p>over the possession of a cavern. Gendel and Gorne, it is said,</p><p>ultimately resolved the matter through trickery, making both sides</p><p>disavow any desire for the cavern, after the brothers discovered it</p><p>was a part of a greater chain of caverns that eventually passed</p><p>beneath the Wall. But considering that the wildlings have no letters,</p><p>their traditions must be looked at with a jaundiced eye.</p><p>A child of the forest. (illustration credit 11)</p><p>The beasts of the woods and the giants were eventually joined by</p><p>other, greater dangers, however.</p><p>A possibility arises for a third race to have inhabited the</p><p>Seven Kingdoms in the Dawn Age, but it is so speculative</p><p>that it need only be dealt with brie�y.</p><p>Among the ironborn, it is said that the �rst of the First</p><p>Men to come to the Iron Isles found the famous Seastone</p><p>Chair on Old Wyk, but that the isles were uninhabited. If</p><p>true, the nature and origins of the chair’s makers are a</p><p>mystery. Maester Kirth in his collection of ironborn</p><p>legends, Songs the Drowned Men Sing, has suggested that</p><p>the chair was left by visitors from across the Sunset Sea,</p><p>but there is no evidence for this, only speculation.</p><p>THE COMING OF THE FIRST MEN</p><p>According to the most well-regarded accounts from the Citadel,</p><p>anywhere from eight thousand to twelve thousand years ago, in the</p><p>southernmost reaches of Westeros, a new people crossed the strip of</p><p>land that bridged the narrow sea and connected the eastern lands</p><p>with the land in which the children and giants lived. It was here</p><p>that the First Men came into Dorne via the Broken Arm, which was</p><p>not yet broken. Why these people left their homelands is lost to all</p><p>knowing, but when they came, they came in force. Thousands</p><p>entered and began to settle the lands, and as the decades passed,</p><p>they pushed farther and farther north. Such tales as we have of</p><p>those migratory days are not to be trusted, for they suggest that,</p><p>within a few short years, the First Men had moved beyond the Neck</p><p>and into the North. Yet, in truth, it would have taken decades, even</p><p>centuries, for this to occur.</p><p>What does seem to be accurate from all the tales, however, is</p><p>that the First Men soon came to war with the children of the forest.</p><p>Unlike the children, the First Men farmed the land and raised up</p><p>ringforts and villages. And in so doing, they took to chopping down</p><p>the weirwood trees, including those with carved faces, and for this,</p><p>the children attacked them, leading to hundreds of years of war.</p><p>The First Men—who had brought with them strange gods, horses,</p><p>cattle, and weapons of bronze—were also larger and stronger than</p><p>the children, and so they were a signi�cant threat.</p><p>The hunters among the children—their wood dancers—became</p><p>their warriors as well, but for all their secret arts of tree and leaf,</p><p>they could only slow the First Men in their advance. The greenseers</p><p>employed their arts, and tales say that they could call the beasts of</p><p>marsh, forest, and air to �ght on their behalf: direwolves and</p><p>monstrous snowbears, cave lions and eagles, mammoths and</p><p>serpents, and more. But the First Men proved too powerful, and the</p><p>children are said to have been driven to a desperate act.</p><p>A carved weirwood. (illustration credit 12)</p><p>Legend says that the great �oods that broke the land bridge that</p><p>is now the Broken Arm and made the Neck a swamp were the work</p><p>of the greenseers, who gathered at Moat Cailin to work dark magic.</p><p>Some contest this, however: the First Men were already in Westeros</p><p>when this occurred, and stemming the tide from the east would do</p><p>little more than slow their progress. Moreover, such power is</p><p>beyond even what the greenseers are traditionally said to have been</p><p>capable of … and even those accounts appear exaggerated. It is</p><p>likelier that the inundation of the Neck and the breaking of the Arm</p><p>were natural events, possibly caused by a natural sinking of the</p><p>land. What became of Valyria is well-known, and in the Iron</p><p>Islands, the castle of Pyke sits on stacks of stone that were once part</p><p>of the greater island before segments of it crumbled into the sea.</p><p>Regardless, the children of the forest fought as �ercely as the</p><p>First Men to defend their lives. Inexorably, the war ground on</p><p>across generations, until at last the children understood that they</p><p>could not win. The First Men, perhaps tired of war, also wished to</p><p>see an end to the �ghting. The wisest of both races prevailed, and</p><p>the chief heroes and rulers of both sides met upon the isle in the</p><p>Gods Eye to form the Pact. Giving up all the lands of Westeros save</p><p>for the deep forests, the children won from the First Men the</p><p>promise that they would no longer cut down the weirwoods. All the</p><p>weirwoods of the isle on which the Pact was forged were then</p><p>carved with faces so that the gods could witness the Pact, and the</p><p>order of green men was made afterward to tend to the weirwoods</p><p>and protect the isle.</p><p>With the Pact, the Dawn Age of the world drew to a close, and</p><p>the Age of Heroes followed.</p><p>Whether the green men still survive on their isle is not</p><p>clear although there is the occasional account of some</p><p>foolhardy young riverlord taking a boat to the isle and</p><p>catching sight of them before winds rise up or a �ock of</p><p>ravens drives him away. The nursery tales claiming that</p><p>they are horned and have dark, green skin is a corruption</p><p>of the likely truth, which is that the green men wore green</p><p>garments and horned headdresses.</p><p>The children of the forest and the First Men forming the Pact. (illustration credit 13)</p><p>THE AGE OF HEROES</p><p>THE AGE OF HEROES lasted for thousands of years, in which</p><p>kingdoms rose and fell, noble houses were founded and withered</p><p>away, and greet deeds were accomplished. Yet what we truly know</p><p>of those ancient days is hardly more than what we know of the</p><p>Dawn Age. The tales we have now are the work of septons and</p><p>maesters writing thousands of years after the fact—yet unlike the</p><p>children of the forest and the giants, the First Men of this Age of</p><p>Heroes left behind some ruins and ancient castles that can</p><p>corroborate parts of the legends, and there are stone monuments in</p><p>the barrow �elds and elsewhere marked with their runes. It is</p><p>through these remnants that we can begin to ferret out the truth</p><p>behind the tales.</p><p>What is commonly accepted is that the Age of Heroes began with</p><p>the Pact and extended through the thousands of years in which the</p><p>First Men and the children lived in peace with one another. With so</p><p>much land ceded to them, the First Men at last had room to</p><p>increase. From the Land of Always Winter to the shores of the</p><p>Summer Sea, the First Men ruled from their ringforts. Petty kings</p><p>and powerful lords proliferated, but in time some few proved to be</p><p>stronger than the rest, forging the seeds of the kingdoms that are</p><p>the ancestors of the Seven Kingdoms we know today. The names of</p><p>the kings of these earliest realms are caught up in legend, and the</p><p>tales that claim their individual rules lasted hundreds of years are to</p><p>be understood as errors and fantasies</p><p>credit 56)</p><p>Madness gripped the city after Rhaenyra �ed, and it</p><p>showed itself in many ways. Strangest of all was the rise of</p><p>two pretender kings who reigned during the time</p><p>remembered as the Moon of the Three Kings.</p><p>The �rst was Trystane Truefyre, a squire to a</p><p>disreputable hedge knight named Ser Perkin the Flea, who</p><p>Ser Perkin declared was the natural son of Viserys I. After</p><p>the storming of the Dragonpit and Rhaenyra’s �ight, the</p><p>Shepherd and his mob ruled much of the city, but Ser</p><p>Perkin installed Trystane in the abandoned Red Keep and</p><p>began to issue edicts. When Aegon II eventually retook the</p><p>city, Trystane begged the boon of knighthood before he</p><p>was executed, and this he received.</p><p>The other king was curiouser still—a child who became</p><p>known as Gaemon Palehair. The son of a whore, this four-</p><p>year-old boy was claimed to be a bastard of Aegon II</p><p>(which was not improbable, given the king’s bawdy ways</p><p>in his youth). From his seat in the House of Kisses atop</p><p>Visenya’s Hill, he gathered followers by the thousands and</p><p>issued a series of edicts. His mother later was hanged,</p><p>having confessed he was the son of a silver-haired oarsman</p><p>from Lys, but Gaemon was spared and taken into the king’s</p><p>household. In time he befriended Aegon III, becoming his</p><p>constant companion and food taster for some years, before</p><p>dying of poison that might have been intended for the king</p><p>himself.</p><p>Munkun’s True Telling, based upon Orwyle’s account, reveals that</p><p>when King’s Landing fell, Larys Strong saw to it that the king was</p><p>spirited away to hide. Cunningly, Strong sent him to Dragonstone,</p><p>rightly believing that Rhaenyra would never think to look for her</p><p>brother at her own stronghold. For half a year he recovered from</p><p>his wounds in a remote �shing village whilst Rhaenyra and much of</p><p>her court were in King’s Landing, and during that time Sunfyre</p><p>arrived from Crackclaw Point, despite the dragon’s crippled wing,</p><p>which made it ungainly in the air. Thus hidden, they were able to</p><p>recover their strength. (Sunfyre went on to kill the shy, wild dragon</p><p>called the Grey Ghost, leading to confused reports claiming that it</p><p>was the Cannibal that did it.)</p><p>Rhaenyra facing her death. (illustration credit 57)</p><p>King Aegon found many around Dragonstone who had grievances</p><p>against Rhaenyra—for the loss of sons, husbands, and brothers in</p><p>her war, or for slights they imagined—and with their aid he</p><p>conquered Dragonstone. It took no more than an hour, largely</p><p>unopposed as it was … except for Prince Daemon’s daughter, the</p><p>fourteen-year-old Baela Targaryen and her young dragon,</p><p>Moondancer. Baela had escaped the men who tried to seize her and</p><p>had made her way to her dragon. And as Aegon II sought to land in</p><p>the courtyard of the castle on Sunfyre, thinking himself triumphant,</p><p>the dragon and the princess rose to meet him.</p><p>Moondancer was much smaller than Sunfyre, but also much</p><p>swifter and far more nimble, and neither the dragon nor the</p><p>princess on her back lacked courage. The dragon swooped and</p><p>clawed and snapped at Sunfyre, raking and tearing until at last a</p><p>blast of �ame blinded the beast. Tangled together, the two dragons</p><p>fell, and their riders with them. Aegon II leapt at the last moment</p><p>from Sunfyre’s back, both legs shattering, while Baela remained</p><p>with Moondancer to the bitter end. When Alfred Broome drew his</p><p>sword to kill her where she lay broken and unconscious, Ser</p><p>Marston Waters tore the sword from his grasp and carried her to the</p><p>maester, saving her life.</p><p>Of this great battle, Rhaenyra knew nothing, but it did not</p><p>matter. Aegon II, ever spiteful of his sister and enraged at the agony</p><p>of his shattered legs and the impending death of his dragon, fed</p><p>Rhaeynra to Sunfyre before the eyes of her sole surviving son (so</p><p>far as any man or woman in the Seven Kingdoms knew), Aegon the</p><p>Younger. So passed the Realm’s Delight, the Half-Year Queen, on</p><p>the twenty-second day of the tenth moon of 130 AC.</p><p>Her half-brother did not long survive her. Though Rhaenyra was</p><p>dead and Aegon the Younger was in his hands, Aegon II still had</p><p>many enemies who continued to �ght against him. They fought as</p><p>much out of fear of his reprisals as they did for Rhaenyra, but they</p><p>fought, and they proved the greater foe. When Lord Borros</p><p>Baratheon at last stirred with his strength, marching against what</p><p>remained of Rhaenyra’s forces, there might have been a chance to</p><p>turn the tide. But Lord Borros fell at the Battle of the Kingsroad, his</p><p>host shattered. And the young riverlords known as the Lads, whose</p><p>host had defeated him, were within a stone’s throw of the city—</p><p>while Lord Stark was coming down the kingsroad with a host of his</p><p>own.</p><p>It was at this time that Lord Corlys Velaryon—freed from the</p><p>dungeons and pardoned, and now serving on the king’s small</p><p>council—advised Aegon to surrender and take the black. The king</p><p>refused, however, and planned to give orders to have his young</p><p>nephew’s ear removed as a warning to Aegon the Younger’s</p><p>supporters. He climbed into his litter to be carried to his</p><p>apartments, and was given a cup of wine on the way.</p><p>When his escort arrived with the litter and lifted the curtain, they</p><p>found the king dead with blood on his lips. And so ended King</p><p>Aegon II, poisoned by the men who served him—for they had seen</p><p>the end even if he had not.</p><p>The broken, shattered realm su�ered for a while yet, but the</p><p>Dance of the Dragons was done. Now what awaited the realm was</p><p>the False Dawn, the Hour of the Wolf, the rule of the regents, and</p><p>the Broken King.</p><p>THE DRAGONS IN THE DANCE</p><p>KING AEGON II’S DRAGONS</p><p>SUNFYRE (King Aegon): Splendid but young, crippled for much of the</p><p>war after Rook’s Rest, then slain in battle with the dragon</p><p>Moondancer at Dragonstone.</p><p>VHAGAR (Prince Aemond One-eye): The last of Aegon the</p><p>Conqueror’s three dragons, old but huge and powerful, killed in</p><p>battle with Caraxes above the Gods Eye.</p><p>DREAMFYRE (Queen Helaena): Once the dragon of Jaehaerys I’s sister</p><p>Rhaena, crushed beneath the collapsing dome at the Storming of the</p><p>Dragonpit.</p><p>TESSARION (Prince Daeron): The Blue Queen, the youngest of the</p><p>dragons of �ghting weight belonging to Aegon’s supporters, killed</p><p>at Second Tumbleton.</p><p>MORGHUL (Princess Jaehaera): Too young for war, killed at the</p><p>Storming of the Dragonpit by the Burning Knight.</p><p>SHRYKOS (Prince Jaehaerys): Too young for war, killed at the</p><p>Storming of the Dragonpit by Hobb the Hewer.</p><p>QUEEN RHAENYRA’S DRAGONS</p><p>SYRAX (Queen Rhaenyra): Huge and formidable,</p><p>killed at the Storming of the Dragonpit.</p><p>CARAXES (Prince Daemon): The Blood Wyrm, huge</p><p>and formidable, killed in battle with Vhagar above</p><p>the Gods Eye.</p><p>VERMAX (Prince Jacaerys): Young but strong, killed</p><p>with his rider at the Battle of the Gullet.</p><p>ARRAX (Prince Lucerys): Young but strong, killed</p><p>with his rider by Vhagar above Shipbreaker Bay.</p><p>TYRAXES (Prince Jo�rey): Young but strong, killed at</p><p>the Storming of the Dragonpit.</p><p>STORMCLOUD (Prince Aegon the Younger): Killed by</p><p>arrow and bolt at the Battle of the Gullet.</p><p>MELEYS (Princess Rhaenys): The Red Queen, old and</p><p>cunning, lazy, but fearsome when roused, killed at</p><p>Rook’s Roost with her rider, the Queen Who Never</p><p>Was.</p><p>MOONDANCER (Lady Baela): Slender and beautiful,</p><p>just large enough to carry a girl, killed by Sunfyre at</p><p>Dragonstone, but not before dealing a mortal wound.</p><p>SILVERWING (Ser Ulf the White): Good Queen</p><p>Alysanne’s dragon, mounted by a dragonseed and</p><p>betrayer, survived him and the Dance both, but</p><p>became wild and made her lair in an isle in Red</p><p>Lake.</p><p>SEASMOKE (Ser Addam of Hull): Once Ser Laenor Velaryon’s dragon,</p><p>mounted by a dragonseed, killed by Vermithor at Second</p><p>Tumbleton.</p><p>VERMITHOR (Ser Hugh Hammer): Old and hoary, the Old King’s</p><p>mount, mounted by a dragonseed and betrayer, killed in battle with</p><p>Seasmoke and Tessarion at Second Tumbleton.</p><p>SHEEPSTEALER (Nettles): A wild dragon tamed by a dragonseed,</p><p>vanished at war’s end.</p><p>GREY GHOST: A wild dragon, shy of people, never tamed, killed by</p><p>Sunfyre at Dragonstone.</p><p>THE CANNIBAL: A wild dragon, a scavenger and killer of hatchlings,</p><p>never tamed</p><p>and vanished at war’s end.</p><p>MORNING (Lady Rhaena): Too young for war, survived the Dance.</p><p>AEGON III</p><p>WHEN AEGON THE Younger came to the Iron Throne in 131 AC as</p><p>Aegon III, after the death of his uncle Aegon II, the realm may well</p><p>have thought that its troubles were done. Aegon III’s supporters had</p><p>defeated the last of Aegon II’s host at the Battle of the Kingsroad</p><p>and had full control of King’s Landing. The Velaryon �eet once</p><p>more served the Iron Throne, and the Sea Snake would surely help</p><p>to guide the young king. But these hopes were built on sand, and</p><p>this period was soon known as the False Dawn. Aegon II had sent</p><p>men across the narrow sea in search of sellswords, and none knew</p><p>when or if those would return to avenge their king. In the west, the</p><p>Red Kraken and his reavers ravished Fair Isle and the western coast.</p><p>And a terrible, hard winter—�rst declared by the Conclave in</p><p>Oldtown in 130 AC, on Maiden’s Day—had taken a �rm grip on the</p><p>realm, and would last for six cruel years.</p><p>Young King Aegon III. (illustration credit 59)</p><p>Nowhere in the Seven Kingdoms did the winter matter more than</p><p>in the North—and the fear of such a winter had driven the Winter</p><p>Wolves to gather beneath the banner of Lord Roderick Dustin and</p><p>die �ghting for queen Rhaenyra. But behind them came a greater</p><p>army of childless and homeless men, unwed men, old men, and</p><p>younger sons, under the banner of Lord Cregan Stark. They had</p><p>come for a war, for adventure and plunder, and for a glorious death</p><p>to spare their kin beyond the Neck one more mouth to feed.</p><p>The poisoning of King Aegon II had denied them that chance.</p><p>Lord Stark still marched his army into King’s Landing, but to a much</p><p>di�erent outcome. He had planned to punish Storm’s End, Oldtown,</p><p>and Casterly Rock for having supported the king. But Lord Corlys</p><p>had already sent envoys to the Rock and Storm’s End and Oldtown,</p><p>suing for peace. For six days, while the court waited for news of</p><p>Lord Corlys’s success or failure and the realm trembled at the</p><p>thought of more war, Lord Cregan Stark held sway at court. This</p><p>came to be known as the Hour of the Wolf.</p><p>Yet in one thing, Lord Stark would not be dissuaded: the</p><p>betrayers and poisoners of King Aegon II must pay the price. To kill</p><p>a cruel and unjust king in lawful battle was one thing. But foul</p><p>murder, and the use of poison, was a betrayal against the very gods</p><p>who had anointed him. Cregan had twenty-two men arrested in</p><p>Aegon III’s name—among them Larys Clubfoot and Corlys</p><p>Velaryon. Cowed, the young Aegon III—who was eleven at the time</p><p>—agreed to make Lord Stark his Hand.</p><p>Cregan Stark served in that o�ce for a single day, presiding over</p><p>the trials and executions. Most of the accused took the black (led by</p><p>the cunning Ser Perkin the Flea). Two alone chose death—Ser Gyles</p><p>Belgrave of the Kingsguard, who did not wish to outlive his king,</p><p>and Larys the Clubfoot, the last of the ancient line of House Strong.</p><p>Lord Corlys was spared a trial by the machinations of Baela</p><p>and Rhaena Targaryen, who convinced Aegon to issue an</p><p>edict restoring to him his o�ces and honors, then by Black</p><p>Aly Blackwood when she gave Lord Stark her hand in</p><p>marriage in return for the boon of allowing Aegon’s edict</p><p>to stand.</p><p>The day after the executions, Lord Stark resigned as Hand. No</p><p>man ever held the o�ce so brie�y, and few left it as gladly. He</p><p>returned to the North, leaving many of his �erce Northmen behind</p><p>in the south. Some wed widows in the riverlands, others sold their</p><p>swords or swore them in service, and a few turned to banditry. But</p><p>the Hour of the Wolf was done, and it was time for the regents.</p><p>The period of Aegon’s regency—which stretched from 131 AC,</p><p>when he inherited the throne, to 136 AC when he came of age—was</p><p>presided over by a council of seven. Only one of those regents—</p><p>Grand Maester Munkun—lasted for the whole of the term; the</p><p>others died and resigned and were replaced as needed. Of these, the</p><p>greatest was the Sea Snake, who passed from this veil of tears in</p><p>132 AC at the age of seventy-nine; for seven days his body lay in</p><p>state beneath the Iron Throne, and the realm wept.</p><p>THE REGENTS OF KING AEGON III</p><p>THE FIRST COUNCIL OF SEVEN</p><p>LADY JEYNE ARRYN, THE MAIDEN OF THE VALE</p><p>Dead of illness in Gulltown in 134 AC.</p><p>LORD CORLYS VELARYON, THE SEA SNAKE</p><p>Dead of old age in 132 AC, aged seventy-nine.</p><p>LORD ROLAND WESTERLING OF THE CRAG</p><p>Dead of the Winter Fever in 133 AC.</p><p>LORD ROYCE CARON OF NIGHTSONG</p><p>Gave up his place in 132 AC.</p><p>LORD MANFRYD MOOTON OF MAIDENPOOL</p><p>Dead of age and illness in 134 AC.</p><p>SER TORRHEN MANDERLY OF WHITE HARBOR Gave up his place</p><p>in 132 AC, following the death of his father and brother</p><p>from the Winter Fever.</p><p>GRAND MAESTER MUNKUN</p><p>The only man to hold the o�ce from 131 AC to 136 AC.</p><p>THE REST</p><p>LORD UNWIN PEAKE Given Lord Corlys’s seat in 132 AC,</p><p>resigned in 134 AC.</p><p>LORD THADDEUS ROWAN Given a place in 133 AC, following</p><p>the death of Lord Westerling, and relieved of his o�ce in</p><p>136 AC.</p><p>SER CORWYN CORBRAY Husband to Rhaena Targaryen,</p><p>replaced Lord Mooton in 134 AC, and killed by a</p><p>crossbowman at Runestone that same year.</p><p>WILLAM STACKSPEAR Chosen by lot in the Great Council of</p><p>136 AC.</p><p>MARQ MERRYWEATHER Chosen by lot in the Great Council of</p><p>136 AC.</p><p>LORENT GRANDISON Chosen by lot in the Great Council of</p><p>136 AC.</p><p>The years of Aegon’s regency were marked by turmoil. Ser</p><p>Tyland Lannister—one of the men who had returned empty-handed</p><p>from the Free Cities (for the free companies were richly paid during</p><p>the wars that followed the collapse of the Kingdom of the Three</p><p>Daughters)—served ably as Hand of the King, despite the blinding</p><p>and mutilations he su�ered at the hands of Queen Rhaenyra’s</p><p>torturers when he refused to divulge where he had hidden much of</p><p>Aegon II’s royal treasury. But the Winter Fever took him in 133.</p><p>Matters deteriorated further when Unwin Peake, Lord of</p><p>Starpike, Dunstonbury, and Whitegrove, became �rst a regent, then</p><p>the Hand. He had played a signi�cant role at First and Second</p><p>Tumbleton, and had felt slighted when he was not chosen to be</p><p>among the �rst regents. But he soon made up for that, acquiring</p><p>more and more power. He saw his kin hold many high o�ces,</p><p>attempted to wed his own daughter to King Aegon III following the</p><p>apparent suicide of Queen Jaehaera, and endeavored to weaken his</p><p>rivals by any means at hand.</p><p>Lord Alyn, the Sea Snake’s grandson, was chief among the Hand’s</p><p>rivals. He was refused his father’s place as a regent, then was made</p><p>to sail against the Stepstones. There he won the name of Oaken�st</p><p>following a great victory at sea, but his newborn fame proved</p><p>divisive when he returned to King’s Landing. The Hand had</p><p>intended to seize control of the Stepstones and put an end to the</p><p>pirate kingdom of Racallio Ryndoon, but Velaryon’s swift action</p><p>meant that the greater part of the �eet could not land the forces</p><p>needed to accomplish this. Oaken�st’s fame and reputation only</p><p>increased in the wake of his victory, winning him honors and</p><p>rewards from the regents despite Lord Peake’s protests. In the end,</p><p>the Hand convinced the regents to dispatch Oaken�st to the</p><p>westerlands to deal with the Red Kraken’s longships when Lord</p><p>Dalton Greyjoy refused to give up his prizes and cease his reaving.</p><p>This was a perilous journey, intended almost certainly to result in</p><p>Lord Alyn’s defeat or death. Instead, Oaken�st turned it into the</p><p>�rst of his six great voyages.</p><p>The last living o�spring of Aegon II, Jaehaera Targaryen</p><p>was eight when she wed her cousin Aegon III, and ten</p><p>when she threw herself from Maegor’s Holdfast to the</p><p>spikes of the dry moat below. She lived on for half an</p><p>hour, in agony, before she died.</p><p>Yet some question the manner of her death. Was it truly</p><p>by her own hand? Some whispered that she was murdered,</p><p>and many suspects were named. Among them was Ser</p><p>Mervyn Flowers of the Kingsguard, the bastard brother of</p><p>Lord Unwin Peake, who had been at her door when she</p><p>died. Yet even Mushroom thinks it unlikely that Flowers</p><p>was the kind of man to push his charge—a child—to such</p><p>an ugly death. He suggests</p><p>a di�erent possibility: that</p><p>Flowers did not kill her but stepped aside to let someone</p><p>else do the deed—someone like the unscrupulous Free</p><p>Cities sellsword Tessario the Tiger, whom Lord Unwin had</p><p>brought into his service.</p><p>Though we will never know the truth of the events that</p><p>day, it now seems likely that Jaehaera’s death was</p><p>somehow instigated by Lord Peake.</p><p>In all this, Aegon III—too young to rule—was but a pawn. He</p><p>was a melancholy youth, and sullen, interested in very little. He</p><p>always wore black, and might go for days without speaking a word</p><p>to anyone. His only companion in these �rst years was Gaemon</p><p>Palehair, the boy pretender, now his servant and friend. After Lord</p><p>Peake came to power, Gaemon was given a new role as the king’s</p><p>whipping boy, to su�er the punishments that could not be meted</p><p>out against the royal person. Later Gaemon Palehair died in the</p><p>attempted poisoning of the king and his young, beautiful queen</p><p>Daenaera Velaryon.</p><p>Lady Daenaera was a cousin to Alyn Oaken�st, fathered by his</p><p>cousin Daeron, who died �ghting for him in the Stepstones. A</p><p>surpassingly beautiful child, Daenaera was but six when the</p><p>princesses Rhaena and Baela presented her to the king—the last of a</p><p>thousand maids who had been presented him at the great ball of</p><p>133 AC. This ball had been declared by the Hand, Lord Peake, after</p><p>the regents stopped his e�orts to betroth his own daughter to the</p><p>king—though he did not give up that aspiration and was greatly</p><p>frustrated by the king’s ultimate choice.</p><p>His e�orts to have the choice put aside were opposed by both</p><p>Aegon and the other regents. Outraged, Lord Unwin threatened to</p><p>resign the Handship to bend the regents to his will, only to �nd the</p><p>others delighted to oblige him. They appointed one of their number,</p><p>Lord Thaddeus Rowan, to take his place as Hand.</p><p>Aegon had only one true joy during these years: the return of his</p><p>younger brother, Prince Viserys. The realm had thought Viserys</p><p>slain at the Battle of the Gullet, and the king had never forgiven</p><p>himself for abandoning his brother when he �ed on the back of his</p><p>dragon, Stormcloud. But Viserys was eventually recovered from Lys</p><p>by Oaken�st, where he had been held in secret by merchant princes</p><p>who thought to pro�t from his ransom or his death. The price that</p><p>Lord Velaryon agreed to for his release was enormous, and soon</p><p>proved a matter of contention. But his release—with his new Lyseni</p><p>bride, the beautiful Larra Rogare, seven years his elder—was a joy</p><p>regardless, and for the rest of his days he was the only person</p><p>Aegon ever fully trusted.</p><p>In the end, it was Larra Rogare and her wealthy, ambitious</p><p>family who helped break the power of the regents and, almost</p><p>certainly, that of Lord Peake. It was an inadvertent role they</p><p>played, however, caught up as they were in the Lyseni Spring. This</p><p>was a time when the Rogare Bank waxed greater than the Iron</p><p>Bank, and so fell prey to the plots to control the king; they were</p><p>blamed for many more acts than they were actually guilty of. Lord</p><p>Rowan, then the Hand and one of the last regents, was accused of</p><p>being complicit in their crimes and was tortured for information.</p><p>Ser Marston Waters, now somehow Hand of the King in his place</p><p>(Munkun, the only regent at this time besides Rowan, is reticent to</p><p>discuss this in the True Telling), dispatched men to seize Lady Larra</p><p>after having arrested her brothers. But the king and his brother</p><p>refused to give her up, and were besieged in Maegor’s Holdfast by</p><p>Waters and his supporters for eighteen days. The conspiracy</p><p>eventually unraveled as Ser Marston—perhaps recalling his duty—</p><p>attempted to ful�ll his king’s command to arrest those who had</p><p>falsely implicated the Rogares and Lord Rowan. Waters himself was</p><p>killed by his own sworn brother, Ser Mervyn Flowers, when he</p><p>attempted to arrest him.</p><p>Order reestablished itself, with Munkun serving as Hand and</p><p>regent for the rest of the remaining year until new regents were</p><p>appointed and a new Hand was found. The time of the regency</p><p>�nally ended on the sixteenth nameday of the king, when he</p><p>entered the small council chamber, dismissed his regents, and</p><p>relieved his then-Hand, Lord Manderly, of his o�ce.</p><p>It was a broken reign that followed, for Aegon himself was</p><p>broken. He was melancholy to the end of his days, found pleasure in</p><p>almost nothing, and locked himself in his chambers to brood for</p><p>days on end. He likewise came to dislike being touched—even by</p><p>the hand of his beautiful queen. Even after she had �owered, he was</p><p>long in calling her to his bed…but ultimately their marriage was</p><p>blessed with two sons and three daughters. The eldest, Daeron, was</p><p>named the Prince of Dragonstone and heir apparent.</p><p>Though he strove to give the realm peace and plenty in the wake</p><p>of the Dance, Aegon III proved unwilling to court his own people,</p><p>or his lords. His might have been a very di�erent reign were it not</p><p>for that one �aw in him—his coldness when it came to those he</p><p>ruled. His brother, Prince Viserys—who in his last years served as</p><p>his Hand—had the gift of charm, but he himself grew stern after his</p><p>wife abandoned him and their children for her native Lys.</p><p>Yet together, Aegon and Viserys ably dealt with the remaining</p><p>turmoil in the realm. One such incident was the troublesome</p><p>appearance of several pretenders claiming to be Prince Daeron the</p><p>Daring—the youngest brother of Aegon II who was killed at Second</p><p>Tumbleton but whose body was never identi�ed—leaving the door</p><p>open for unscrupulous men to make their false claims. (But those</p><p>feigned princes have since been conclusively shown to be</p><p>imposters.) They even attempted to restore the Targaryen dragons,</p><p>despite Aegon’s fears—for which none could blame him after</p><p>witnessing his mother being eaten alive. He dreaded the sight of</p><p>dragons—and had even less desire to ride upon one—but he was</p><p>convinced that they would cow those who sought to oppose him. At</p><p>Viserys’s suggestion, he sent away for nine mages from Essos,</p><p>attempting to use their arts to kindle a clutch of eggs. This proved</p><p>both a debacle and a failure.</p><p>Aegon III’s dismissal of both the regents and the Hand, Lord Manderly. (illustration credit 60)</p><p>FROM THE ACCOUNT OF GRAND MAESTER MUNKUN OF</p><p>THE KING’S WORDS TO LORD MANDERLY WHEN HE</p><p>ENDED THE REGENCY</p><p>I mean to give the smallfolk peace and food and justice. If</p><p>that will not su�ce to win their love, let Mushroom make</p><p>a progress. Or perhaps we might send a dancing bear.</p><p>Someone once told me that the commons love nothing half</p><p>so much as dancing bears. You may call a halt to this feast</p><p>tonight as well. Send the lords home to their own keeps</p><p>and give the food to the hungry. Full bellies and dancing</p><p>bears shall be my policy.</p><p>There were four dragons still living at the start of his reign—</p><p>Silverwing, Morning, Sheepstealer, and the Cannibal. Yet Aegon III</p><p>will always be remembered as the Dragonbane, for the last</p><p>Targaryen dragon died during his reign in the year 153 AC.</p><p>The reign of the Broken King—also known as Aegon the Unlucky</p><p>—ended with the king’s death at thirty-six years of age, from</p><p>consumption. Many of his subjects thought him far older, for his</p><p>boyhood was cut too short. The melancholy king is not remembered</p><p>fondly, and his legacy would pale before that of his sons.</p><p>All that remains of the Targaryen dragons today: the skull of Balerion the Black Dread.</p><p>(illustration credit 61)</p><p>DAERON I</p><p>WHEN AEGON III died in the twenty-sixth year of his reign, 157</p><p>years after the Conqueror was crowned, he left behind two sons and</p><p>three daughters. The eldest of his sons, Daeron, was a mere boy of</p><p>fourteen years when he assumed the throne. Perhaps because of</p><p>Daeron’s charm and genius, or perhaps because of his memory of</p><p>what transpired during the regency of Daeron’s father, Prince</p><p>Viserys chose not to insist on a regency while the young king was in</p><p>his minority. Instead, Viserys continued to serve as Hand while King</p><p>Daeron ruled ably and capably.</p><p>Few foresaw that Daeron, the First of His Name, would cover</p><p>himself in glory as did his ancestor Aegon the Conqueror,</p><p>whose</p><p>crown he wore. (His father had preferred a simple circlet.) Yet that</p><p>glory turned to ashes almost as swiftly. A youth of rare brilliance</p><p>and forcefulness, Daeron at �rst met resistance from his uncle, his</p><p>councillors, and many great lords when he �rst proposed to</p><p>“complete the Conquest” by bringing Dorne into the realm at last.</p><p>His lords reminded him that, unlike the Conqueror and his sisters,</p><p>he had no more dragons �t for war. To this Daeron famously</p><p>responded: “You have a dragon. He stands before you.”</p><p>In the end, the king could not be gainsaid, and when he revealed</p><p>his plans—plans formulated, it is said, with the help and advice of</p><p>Alyn Velaryon, the Oaken�st—some began to think it could indeed</p><p>be done, for the proposed campaign improved upon that of Aegon’s</p><p>own.</p><p>Daeron I amply proved his prowess on the �eld of Dorne, which</p><p>for hundreds of years had de�ed the Reach, the stormlords, and</p><p>even the dragons of House Targaryen. Daeron divided his host into</p><p>three forces: one led by Lord Tyrell, who came down the Prince’s</p><p>Pass at the western end of the Red Mountains of Dorne; one led by</p><p>the king’s cousin and master of ships, Alyn Velaryon, traveling by</p><p>sea; and one led by the king himself, marching down the</p><p>treacherous pass called the Boneway, where he made use of goat</p><p>tracks that others considered too dangerous, to go around the</p><p>Dornish watchtowers and avoid the same traps that had caught Orys</p><p>Baratheon. The young king then swept away every force that sought</p><p>to stop him. The Prince’s Pass was won, and, most importantly, the</p><p>royal �eet broke the Planky Town and then was able to drive</p><p>upriver.</p><p>With Dorne e�ectively divided in half by Lord Alyn’s control of</p><p>the Greenblood, the Dornish forces in the east and west could not</p><p>aid one another directly. And from this stemmed a series of bold</p><p>battles that would take a volume entire to relate in full. Many</p><p>accounts of this war can be found, but the best of them is The</p><p>Conquest of Dorne, King Daeron’s own account of his campaign,</p><p>which is rightly considered a marvel of elegant simplicity in both its</p><p>prose and its strategies.</p><p>King Daeron I, the Young Dragon. (illustration credit 62)</p><p>Within a year, the invaders were at the gates of Sunspear and</p><p>battling their way through the so-called shadow city. In 158 AC, the</p><p>Prince of Dorne and twoscore of the most powerful Dornish lords</p><p>bent their knees to Daeron at the Submission of Sunspear. The</p><p>Young Dragon had accomplished what Aegon the Conqueror never</p><p>had. There were rebels still in the deserts and mountains—men</p><p>swiftly branded as outlaws—but they were few in number to begin</p><p>with.</p><p>The king quickly consolidated his control of Dorne, dealing with</p><p>these rebels when he found them…though not without di�culty.</p><p>In one infamous episode, a poisoned arrow meant for the king was</p><p>taken instead by his cousin Prince Aemon (the younger son of</p><p>Prince Viserys), who had to be sent home by ship to recover. Yet by</p><p>159 AC the hinterlands were paci�ed, and the Young Dragon was</p><p>free to return in triumph to King’s Landing, leaving Lord Tyrell in</p><p>Dorne to keep the peace. As assurance for Dorne’s future loyalty</p><p>and good behavior, fourteen highborn hostages were carried back</p><p>with him to King’s Landing, the sons and daughters of almost all the</p><p>great houses of Dorne.</p><p>Dornish letters recorded in Maester Gareth’s Red Sands</p><p>suggest that Lord Qorgyle, the Lord of Sandstone, himself</p><p>arranged for Lord Tyrell’s murder. However, his motives</p><p>were the subject of speculation in later years. Some say he</p><p>grew angry that his early show of loyalty—by putting an</p><p>end to the rabble-rousing of one of the more notorious</p><p>rebel lords—was given such little consideration by Lord</p><p>Tyrell, whilst others claim that his initial aid was all part</p><p>of a treacherous plan he made with his castellan to lull the</p><p>king and Lord Tyrell into trusting him.</p><p>This tactic proved less e�ective than Daeron might have hoped,</p><p>however. Whilst the hostages helped ensure the continued loyalty of</p><p>their own blood, the king had not anticipated the tenacity of</p><p>Dorne’s smallfolk, over whom he had no hold. Ten thousand men, it</p><p>is said, died in the battle for Dorne; forty thousand more died over</p><p>the course of the following three years, as common Dornishmen</p><p>fought on stubbornly against the king’s men.</p><p>Skulls of the dead in Dorne. (illustration credit 63)</p><p>Lord Tyrell, whom Daeron had left in charge of Dorne, valiantly</p><p>attempted to quell the �res of rebellion, traveling from castle to</p><p>castle with each turn of the moon—punishing any supporters of the</p><p>rebels with the noose, burning down the villages that harbored the</p><p>outlaws, and so on. But the smallfolk struck back, and each new day</p><p>found supplies stolen or destroyed, camps burned, horses killed, and</p><p>slowly the count of dead soldiers and men-at-arms rose—killed in</p><p>the alleyways of the shadow city, ambushed amidst the dunes,</p><p>murdered in their camps.</p><p>But the true rebellion began when Lord Tyrell and his train</p><p>traveled to Sandstone, where his lordship was murdered in a bed of</p><p>scorpions. As word spread of his demise, open rebellion swept</p><p>Dorne from one end to the other.</p><p>In 160 AC the Young Dragon himself was forced to return to</p><p>Dorne to put down the rebels. He won several small victories as he</p><p>fought through the Boneway while Lord Alyn Oaken�st descended</p><p>once again upon the Planky Town and the Greenblood. Apparently</p><p>broken, in 161 AC the Dornishmen agreed to meet to renew their</p><p>fealty and discuss terms … but it was treachery and murder they</p><p>plotted, not peace. In a bloody betrayal, the Dornish attacked the</p><p>Young Dragon and his retinue beneath the peace banner. Three</p><p>knights of the Kingsguard were slain attempting to protect the king</p><p>(a fourth, to his eternal shame, threw down his sword and yielded).</p><p>Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was wounded and captured, but not</p><p>before cutting down two of the betrayers. The Young Dragon</p><p>himself died with Blackfyre in his hand, surrounded by a dozen</p><p>enemies.</p><p>King Daeron I’s reign was thus four short years in length; his</p><p>ambition had proved too great. Glory may be everlasting, yet it is</p><p>�eeting as well—soon forgotten in the aftermath of even the most</p><p>famous of victories if they lead to greater disasters.</p><p>BAELOR I</p><p>NEWS SOON REACHED King’s Landing of King Daeron’s death and</p><p>the rout of his remaining forces. The outrage that followed was</p><p>swiftly directed at the Dornish hostages. At the command of the</p><p>King’s Hand, Prince Viserys, they were thrown into the dungeons to</p><p>await hanging. The Hand’s eldest son, Prince Aegon, even delivered</p><p>the Dornish girl he had made his paramour to his father to await</p><p>execution.</p><p>The Young Dragon had never married, nor fathered children.</p><p>Accordingly, upon his death, the Iron Throne passed to his brother</p><p>Baelor, a youth of ten-and-seven. Baelor proved to be the most</p><p>pious king in the Targaryen dynasty, and some say in the history of</p><p>all the Seven Kingdoms. His �rst act as king was to grant pardon to</p><p>the Dornish hostages. Many similar acts of piety and forgiveness</p><p>followed throughout Baelor’s ten-year reign. Even as his lords and</p><p>council cried for vengeance, Baelor publicly forgave his brother’s</p><p>killers and declared that he meant to “bind up the wounds” of his</p><p>brother’s war and make peace with Dorne. As an act of piety, he</p><p>declared, he would go to Dorne “with neither sword nor army,” to</p><p>return their hostages and sue for peace. And so he did, walking</p><p>barefoot from King’s Landing to Sunspear, clad only in sackcloth,</p><p>while the hostages rode �ne horses behind him.</p><p>There are many songs of Baelor’s journey to Dorne that found</p><p>their way out of septries and motherhouses to spill from the tongues</p><p>of singers. Mounting the Stone Way, Baelor soon came to the place</p><p>where the Wyls had imprisoned his cousin Prince Aemon. He found</p><p>the Dragonknight naked in a cage. It is said that Baelor pleaded, but</p><p>Lord Wyl refused to free Aemon, forcing His Grace instead to o�er</p><p>a prayer for his cousin and swear that he would return. Many</p><p>generations since have wondered just what Prince Aemon must</p><p>have</p><p>thought of this, seeing his reedy-voiced, slender kinsman—haggard</p><p>and with bare, bleeding feet—making this promise. And yet Baelor</p><p>pressed on and survived the Boneway, which had proved the</p><p>undoing for many thousands before him.</p><p>King Baelor I’s penance through the deserts of Dorne. (illustration credit 64)</p><p>The crossing of the desert between the northern foothills and the</p><p>Scourge on foot, practically alone, nearly undid him. And yet he</p><p>persevered. It was an arduous journey, but he survived to meet with</p><p>the Prince of Dorne in what some consider to be the �rst miracle of</p><p>Blessed Baelor’s reign. And the second miracle might well be that he</p><p>succeeded in forging a peace with Dorne that lasted throughout his</p><p>reign. As part of the terms of the agreement, Baelor agreed that his</p><p>young cousin Daeron—grandson of his Hand, Viserys, and the son of</p><p>Viserys’s eldest son Prince Aegon—should be betrothed to Princess</p><p>Mariah, eldest child of the Prince of Dorne. Both were children at</p><p>the time, so the marriage was to take place when they were of age.</p><p>After a sojourn in the Old Palace of Sunspear, the Prince of Dorne</p><p>o�ered Baelor a galley to take him back to King’s Landing.</p><p>However, the young king insisted that the Seven had commanded</p><p>him to walk. Some in the Dornish court feared that Prince Viserys</p><p>would take it as a new cause for war when (not if) Baelor died upon</p><p>the road, so the prince made every e�ort to make certain that the</p><p>Dornish lords along the route would be hospitable. When he</p><p>mounted the Boneway, Baelor turned his attention to recovering</p><p>Prince Aemon from his imprisonment. He had asked the Dornish</p><p>prince to explicitly command the Dragonknight’s release, and this</p><p>Lord Wyl accepted. Yet instead of freeing Aemon himself, he gave</p><p>Baelor the key to Aemon’s cage, and an invitation to use it. But</p><p>now, not only was Aemon naked in a cage, exposed to the hot sun</p><p>by day and the cold wind by night, but also a pit had been dug</p><p>beneath the cage, and within it were many vipers. The</p><p>Dragonknight is said to have begged for the king to leave him, to</p><p>go and seek aid in the Dornish Marches instead, but Baelor is said to</p><p>have smiled and told him that the gods would protect him. Then he</p><p>stepped into the pit.</p><p>Baelor braving the vipers to rescue Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. (illustration credit 65)</p><p>Later, the singers claimed that the vipers bowed their heads to</p><p>Baelor as he passed, but the truth is otherwise. Baelor was bitten</p><p>half a dozen times while crossing to the cage, and though he opened</p><p>it, he nearly collapsed before the Dragonknight was able to thrust</p><p>open the door and pull his cousin from the pit. The Wyls are said to</p><p>have laid wagers as Prince Aemon struggled to climb out of the</p><p>cage with Baelor �ung across his back, and perhaps it was their</p><p>cruelty that spurred him to climb to the top of the cage and leap to</p><p>safety.</p><p>Prince Aemon carried Baelor halfway down the Boneway before</p><p>a village septon in the Dornish mountains gave him clothing and an</p><p>ass on which to carry the comatose king. Eventually Aemon reached</p><p>the watchtowers of the Dondarrions, and then was conducted to</p><p>Blackhaven, where the local maester cared for the king as best he</p><p>could before sending them on to Storm’s End for further treatment.</p><p>And all the while, it is said, Baelor was wasting away, still lost to</p><p>the world.</p><p>He only regained consciousness on the way to Storm’s End, and</p><p>then only to mutter prayers. It was half a year and more before he</p><p>was well enough to travel on to King’s Landing; and in all that time,</p><p>Prince Viserys managed the realm as King’s Hand, maintaining</p><p>Baelor’s peace treaty with the Dornish.</p><p>The realm celebrated when Baelor at last regained the Iron</p><p>Throne. Yet Baelor’s interests remained �rmly on the Seven, and his</p><p>�rst new edicts must have caused consternation among those who</p><p>had been used to Aegon III’s sober rule, Daeron’s benign neglect,</p><p>and Viserys’s shrewd stewardship. Having been wed in 160 AC to</p><p>his sister Daena, the king proceeded to convince the High Septon to</p><p>dissolve the marriage. It was contracted before he was king, he</p><p>argued, and had never been consummated.</p><p>After the union was dissolved, Baelor went further by placing</p><p>Daena and her younger sisters Rhaena and Elaena into their own</p><p>“Court of Beauty” within the Red Keep, in what came to be called</p><p>the Maidenvault. The king announced that he wished to preserve</p><p>their innocence from the wickedness of the world and the lusts of</p><p>impious men, but some wondered if he did not fear the temptation</p><p>of their beauty on his own behalf.</p><p>Though Viserys, the princesses themselves, and other members of</p><p>the court protested, the deed was done, and the princesses were</p><p>cloistered away in the heart of the Red Keep, accompanied only by</p><p>maidens that lords and knights sent to the Red Keep to curry favor</p><p>with Baelor.</p><p>More protest came when Baelor went on to outlaw prostitution</p><p>within King’s Landing, and no one could impress on him how much</p><p>trouble that would cause. More than a thousand whores and their</p><p>children, it is said, were rounded up and put out of the city. The</p><p>unrest that followed was something that King Baelor chose not to</p><p>acknowledge as he busied himself with his newest project: a great</p><p>sept that would be built on top of Visenya’s Hill—a sept that he said</p><p>he had seen in a vision. So was the Great Sept �rst envisioned,</p><p>though it was not completed until many years after his death.</p><p>Ultimately, some have wondered if the king’s near death in</p><p>Dorne did not a�ect his mind in some way, for as the years of his</p><p>reign progressed, his decisions grew ever more zealous and erratic.</p><p>Though the smallfolk loved him—he emptied the treasury regularly</p><p>to fund his charitable acts, including the year when he donated a</p><p>loaf of bread daily to every man and woman in the city—the lords</p><p>of the realm were beginning to grow uneasy. The king had not only</p><p>ended his marriage to Daena, but he had made sure he would never</p><p>wed again by taking a septon’s vows, aided and abetted by a High</p><p>Septon who was becoming increasingly in�uential in the kingdom.</p><p>The king’s edicts were becoming more concerned with spiritual</p><p>matters at the expense of the material as well—including his e�ort</p><p>to require the Citadel to use doves, not ravens, to carry their</p><p>messages (a debacle discussed at length in Walgrave’s Black Wings,</p><p>Swift Words), and his attempt to provide exemptions from taxation</p><p>for those who ensured the virtue of their daughters through the</p><p>judicious use of chastity belts.</p><p>The Great Sept of Baelor. (illustration credit 67)</p><p>One unfortunate aspect of King Baelor’s zealotry was his</p><p>insistence on burning books. Though some books might</p><p>hold little that is worth knowing, and some might even</p><p>hold matter that is dangerous, destroying knowledge is a</p><p>painful thing. That Baelor had the Testimony of Mushroom</p><p>burned is no great surprise, given its ribald and scandalous</p><p>content. But Septon Barth’s Unnatural History, however</p><p>mistaken some of its proposals, was the work of one of the</p><p>brightest minds in the Seven Kingdoms. Barth’s study and</p><p>alleged practice of the higher arts proved enough to win</p><p>Baelor’s enmity and the destruction of his work, even</p><p>though Unnatural History contains much that is neither</p><p>controversial nor wicked. It is only fortunate that</p><p>fragments have survived, so that the lore within was not</p><p>wholly lost.</p><p>Toward the end of the reign, Baelor began to spend more and</p><p>more time fasting and praying, attempting to make up for all the</p><p>sins and o�enses he believed he and his subjects were committing</p><p>against the Seven on a daily basis. When the High Septon died,</p><p>Baelor informed the Most Devout that the gods had revealed the</p><p>identity of the future High Septon to him, and they promptly</p><p>elected Baelor’s choice to the o�ce—a common man named Pate</p><p>who was a gifted worker in stone, but without letters, simple-</p><p>minded, and unable to recall even a simple prayer. It was a</p><p>blessing, perhaps, that this lackwit High Septon only survived a</p><p>year before a fever took him.</p><p>Malicious rumors that followed in the wake of Viserys’s</p><p>ascension—begun, some say, by the pen of the Lady Maia</p><p>of House Stokeworth—suggested that Viserys poisoned the</p><p>king in order to �nally gain the throne after a decade and</p><p>more of waiting. Others have suggested that Viserys</p><p>poisoned Baelor for the good of the realm, since the</p><p>septon-king had come to believe that the Seven called on</p><p>him to convert all the unbelievers in his realm. This would</p><p>have led to a war with the North and the Iron Islands that</p><p>would have caused great turmoil.</p><p>Or perhaps not, for Baelor had by then become convinced that</p><p>the gods had given an eight-year-old boy—a street urchin, some</p><p>later claimed, but more likely a draper’s son—the power to perform</p><p>miracles. Baelor claimed to have seen the boy speaking with doves</p><p>that answered him in the voice of men and women—the voices of</p><p>the Seven, according to Baelor. This, he declared, should be the next</p><p>High Septon. Again the Most Devout did as the king desired, and so</p><p>the youngest High Septon to ever wear the crystal crown was</p><p>chosen.</p><p>The eventual birth of Daemon Waters, the natural child of Daena</p><p>Targaryen by a father she refused to name (but whom the realm</p><p>later learned was none other than her cousin, Aegon, while he was</p><p>still a prince), led to another �t of fasting by the king. He had</p><p>already nearly killed himself some years before, when he fasted for</p><p>a moon’s turn following the deaths of his cousin Princess Naerys’s</p><p>twins shortly after their delivery. This time Baelor took it yet</p><p>further, refusing anything but water and taking only enough bread</p><p>to still the cries of his stomach. For forty days he kept his regimen.</p><p>On the forty-�rst day, he was found collapsed before the altar of the</p><p>Mother.</p><p>Grand Maester Munkun did what he could to heal the king. So,</p><p>too, did the boy High Septon, but his miracles were at an end. The</p><p>king joined the Seven in the tenth year of his reign, in 171 AC.</p><p>The Sisters of Baelor I</p><p>Daena is the most famed of the three sisters, and was the most</p><p>loved—for her beauty as much as her �erce courage. She was</p><p>known as a skilled horsewoman, a fearsome archer with the Dornish</p><p>bow her brother Daeron had brought back from his conquests, and</p><p>she was practiced at riding at rings (though she was never allowed</p><p>to ride in a tourney, despite her e�orts to the contrary). Daena</p><p>quickly became known as the De�ant, for she was the most restless</p><p>of the three sisters in her imprisonment, and on three separate</p><p>occasions escaped disguised as a servant or one of the smallfolk. She</p><p>even contrived, toward the end of Baelor’s reign, to get herself with</p><p>child—though some might say it would have been better had she</p><p>been less de�ant, for all the trouble that son brought to the realm.</p><p>Of Baelor’s other sisters, Rhaena was almost as pious as her</p><p>brother, and in time became a septa. Elaena, the youngest, was</p><p>more willful than Rhaena, but not as beautiful as either of her</p><p>sisters. While in the Maidenvault, it is said she cut her “crowning</p><p>glory”—her long hair, platinum-pale with a streak of gold running</p><p>through it—and sent it to her brother, pleading for her freedom</p><p>with the promise that, shorn as she was, she would now be too ugly</p><p>to tempt any man. Her pleas fell on deaf ears, however.</p><p>Elaena outlived her siblings and led a tumultuous life once freed</p><p>from the Maidenvault. Following in Daena’s footsteps, she bore the</p><p>bastard twins Jon and Jeyne Waters to Alyn Velaryon, Lord</p><p>Oaken�st. She hoped to wed him, it is written, but a year after his</p><p>disappearance at sea, she gave up hope and agreed to marry</p><p>elsewhere.</p><p>She was thrice wed. Her �rst marriage was in 176 AC, to the</p><p>wealthy but aged Ossifer Plumm, who is said to have died while</p><p>consummating the marriage. She conceived, however, for Lord</p><p>Plumm did his duty before he died. Later, scurrilous rumors came to</p><p>suggest that Lord Plumm, in fact, died at the sight of his new bride</p><p>in her nakedness (this rumor was put in the lewdest terms—terms</p><p>which might have amused Mushroom but which we need not</p><p>repeat), and that the child she conceived that night was by her</p><p>cousin Aegon—he who later became King Aegon the Unworthy.</p><p>Her second marriage was at the behest of Aegon the Unworthy’s</p><p>successor, King Daeron the Good. Daeron wed her to his master of</p><p>coin, and this union led to four more children … and to Elaena</p><p>becoming known to be the true master of coin, for her husband was</p><p>said to be a good and noble lord but one without a great facility for</p><p>numbers. She swiftly grew in�uential, and was trusted by King</p><p>Daeron in all things as she labored on his behalf and on that of the</p><p>realm.</p><p>The third marriage was one of her own choice, after she fell in</p><p>love with Ser Michael Manwoody, a Dornishman who had attended</p><p>Princess Mariah at her court. Manwoody, who in early life had</p><p>studied at the Citadel, was a cultured man of great wit and learning</p><p>who had become a trusted servant to King Daeron after Daeron’s</p><p>marriage to Queen Mariah. He was sent to Braavos to negotiate</p><p>with the Iron Bank on several occasions, and there is record of a</p><p>correspondence between him and the keyholders of the Iron Bank</p><p>(sealed with his seal and signed with his name, but apparently in</p><p>the hand of Elaena) regarding these negotiations.</p><p>Elaena wed Ser Michael, apparently with Daeron’s blessing, not</p><p>long after her second husband died. Elaena said, in her later years,</p><p>that it wasn’t his intelligence that made her love Ser Manwoody,</p><p>but his love of music. He was known to play the harp for her, and</p><p>when he died, Elaena commanded that his e�gy be carved holding</p><p>a harp, and not the sword and spurs of knighthood as is common.</p><p>The sisters of King Baelor I (l. to r.): Elaena, Rhaena, and Daena. (illustration credit 66)</p><p>VISERYS II</p><p>THOUGH BOTH OF the sons of King Aegon III were dead, his three</p><p>daughters yet survived, and there were some amongst the smallfolk</p><p>—and even some lords—who felt that the Iron Throne should by</p><p>rights now pass to Princess Daena. They were few, however; a</p><p>decade of isolation in the Maidenvault had left Daena and her sisters</p><p>without powerful allies, and memories of the woes that had befallen</p><p>the realm when last a woman sat the Iron Throne were still fresh.</p><p>Daena the De�ant was seen by many lords as being wild and</p><p>unmanageable besides…and wanton as well, for a year earlier she</p><p>had given birth to a bastard son she named Daemon, whose sire she</p><p>steadfastly refused to name.</p><p>The precedents of the Great Council of 101 and the Dance of the</p><p>Dragons were therefore cited, and the claims of Baelor’s sisters</p><p>were set aside. Instead the crown passed to his uncle, the King’s</p><p>Hand, Prince Viserys.</p><p>It has been written that while Daeron warred and Baelor prayed,</p><p>Viserys ruled. For fourteen years he served as Hand to his nephews,</p><p>and before them he served his brother, King Aegon III. It is said he</p><p>was the shrewdest Hand since Septon Barth, though his good e�orts</p><p>were diminished in the reign of the Broken King, who lacked any</p><p>desire to please his subjects or win their love. In his Lives of Four</p><p>Kings, Grand Maester Kaeth seems to hold little opinion, good or</p><p>bad, of Viserys…but there are those who say that, by rights, the</p><p>book should be about �ve kings, Viserys included. And yet Viserys</p><p>is passed over for a discussion of his son, Aegon the Unworthy,</p><p>instead.</p><p>After his years as a hostage in Lys following the Dance, Viserys</p><p>returned to King’s Landing with a beautiful Lyseni bride, Larra</p><p>Rogare, the daughter of a wealthy and in�uential noble house. Tall</p><p>and willowy, with the silver-gold hair and purple eyes of Valyria</p><p>(for the blood still runs strong in Lys), she was seven years Viserys’s</p><p>elder. She was also a woman who never felt a part of the court and</p><p>was never truly happy there. Yet she gave him three children before</p><p>she at last returned to her native Lys.</p><p>The eldest was Aegon, born in the Red Keep in 135 AC after</p><p>Viserys’s return from Lys. He was a robust lad who grew to be</p><p>handsome and charming, and also irresponsible and capricious,</p><p>devoted to his pleasures. He caused his father much trouble and toil,</p><p>and the realm much pain.</p><p>In 136 AC, Aemon followed. He was as robust as Aegon as an</p><p>infant, and as beautiful to look upon, but his brother’s faults were</p><p>not in him. He proved the greatest jouster and swordsman of his</p><p>age—a knight worthy to bear Dark Sister. He became known as the</p><p>Dragonknight for the three-headed dragon crest wrought in white</p><p>gold upon his helm. To this very day some call him the noblest</p><p>knight who ever lived and one of the most storied names to ever</p><p>serve in the Kingsguard.</p><p>The last of Viserys’s children was his only daughter, Naerys, born</p><p>in 138 AC. She had skin so pale that it seemed almost translucent,</p><p>men said. She was small of frame (and made smaller by having little</p><p>appetite), with very �ne features, and singers wrote songs in praise</p><p>of her eyes—a deep violet in hue and very large, framed by pale</p><p>lashes.</p><p>She loved Aemon best of her brothers, for he knew how to make</p><p>her laugh—and he had something of the same piety that she</p><p>possessed, while Aegon did not. She loved the Seven as dearly as</p><p>she loved her brother, if not more so, and might have been a septa</p><p>if her lord father had allowed it. But he did not, and Viserys instead</p><p>wed her to his son Aegon in 153 AC, with King Aegon III’s blessing.</p><p>The singers say that Aemon and Naerys both wept during the</p><p>ceremony, though the histories tell us Aemon quarreled with Aegon</p><p>at the wedding feast, and that Naerys wept during the bedding</p><p>rather than the wedding.</p><p>There are those who write that many of the follies of the Young</p><p>Dragon and Baelor the Blessed originated in Prince Viserys, while</p><p>others argue that Viserys moderated the worst of their obsessions as</p><p>best he could. Though his reign lasted little more than a year, it is</p><p>instructive to consider his reforms of the royal household and its</p><p>functions; the establishment of a new royal mint; his e�orts to</p><p>increase trade across the narrow sea; and his revisions of the code</p><p>of laws that Jaehaerys the Conciliator had established during his</p><p>long reign.</p><p>Viserys II had within him the capacity to be a new Conciliator,</p><p>for no king had ever been shrewder or more capable. Tragically, a</p><p>sudden illness carried him away in 172 AC.</p><p>It need not be said that some found the illness and its swiftness</p><p>suspicious, but none dared speak their suspicion at the time. It</p><p>would be more than a decade before the �rst accusation was put to</p><p>paper that Viserys had been poisoned by none other than his</p><p>successor, his son Aegon.</p><p>Is there truth to this suspicion? We cannot say for certain. But</p><p>given all the infamous and corrupt deeds of Aegon the Unworthy,</p><p>both before and after he assumed the crown, it cannot be</p><p>discounted.</p><p>AEGON IV</p><p>WITH HIS FATHER’S death in 172 AC, Aegon, the Fourth of his</p><p>Name, came at last to the throne that he had coveted as a boy. He</p><p>had been comely in his youth, skilled with lance and sword, a man</p><p>who loved to hunt and hawk and dance. He was the brightest prince</p><p>at court in his generation and was admired for his wit. But he had</p><p>one great �aw: he could not rule himself. His lusts, his gluttony, his</p><p>desires—they all controlled him utterly. Seated upon the Iron</p><p>Throne, his misrule began with small acts of pleasure, but in time</p><p>his appetites knew no bounds, and his corruption led to acts that</p><p>haunted the realm for generations. “Aenys was weak and Maegor</p><p>was cruel,” Kaeth writes, “and Aegon II was grasping, but no king</p><p>before or after would practice so much willful misrule.”</p><p>Aegon soon �lled his court with men chosen not for their</p><p>nobility, honesty, or wisdom, but for their ability to amuse and</p><p>�atter him. And the women of his court were largely those who did</p><p>the same, letting him slake his lusts upon their bodies. On a whim,</p><p>he often took from one noble house to give to another, as he did</p><p>when he casually appropriated the great hills called the Teats from</p><p>the Brackens and gifted them to the Blackwoods. For the sake of his</p><p>desires, he gave away priceless treasures, as he did when he granted</p><p>his Hand, Lord Butterwell, a dragon’s egg in return for access to all</p><p>three of his daughters. He deprived men of their rightful inheritance</p><p>when he desired their wealth, as rumors claim he did following the</p><p>death of Lord Plumm upon his wedding day.</p><p>The young Prince Aegon, with his parents, Prince Viserys II and Larra Rogare. (illustration</p><p>credit 68)</p><p>For the smallfolk, his reign might have been a source of gossip</p><p>and amusement. To the lords of the realm who did not stay at court,</p><p>and who did not wish to have Aegon make free with their</p><p>daughters, he might have seemed strong and decisive, frivolous, but</p><p>largely harmless. But to those who dared enter his circle, he was too</p><p>mercurial, too greedy, and too cruel to be anything but dangerous.</p><p>It was said of Aegon that he never slept alone and did not count a</p><p>night complete until he had spent himself in a woman. His carnal</p><p>lusts were satiated by all manner of women, from the highest born</p><p>of princesses to the meanest whore, and he seemed to make no</p><p>di�erence between them. In his last years, Aegon claimed he had</p><p>slept with at least nine hundred women (the exact number eluded</p><p>him), but that he only truly loved nine. (Queen Naerys, his sister,</p><p>was not counted among them). The nine mistresses came from near</p><p>and far, and some gave him natural children, but each and every</p><p>one (save the last) was dismissed when he grew weary of her.</p><p>However, one of those natural children came from a woman not</p><p>accounted his mistress: Princess Daena, the De�ant.</p><p>Daemon was the name Daena gave to this child, for Prince</p><p>Daemon had been the wonder and the terror of his age, and in later</p><p>days that was seen as a warning of what the boy would become.</p><p>Daemon Waters was his full name when he was born in 170 AC. At</p><p>that time, Daena refused to name the father, but even then Aegon’s</p><p>involvement was suspected. Raised at the Red Keep, this handsome</p><p>youth was given the instruction of the wisest maesters and the best</p><p>masters-at-arms at court, including Ser Quentyn Ball, the �ery</p><p>knight called Fireball. He loved nothing better than deeds of arms</p><p>and excelled at them, and many saw in him a warrior who would</p><p>one day be another Dragonknight. King Aegon knighted Daemon in</p><p>his twelfth year when he won a squires’ tourney (thereby making</p><p>him the youngest knight ever made in the time of the Targaryens,</p><p>surpassing Maegor I) and shocked his court, kin, and council by</p><p>bestowing upon him the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, Blackfyre,</p><p>as well as lands and other honors. Daemon took the name Blackfyre</p><p>thereafter.</p><p>Queen Naerys—the one woman Aegon IV bedded in whom he</p><p>took no pleasure—was pious and gentle and frail, and all these</p><p>things the king misliked. Childbirth also proved a trial to Naerys,</p><p>for she was small and delicate. When Prince Daeron was born on</p><p>the last day of 153 AC, Grand Maester Alford warned that another</p><p>pregnancy might kill her. Naerys was said to address her brother</p><p>thus: “I have done my duty by you, and given you an heir. I beg</p><p>you, let us live henceforth as brother and sister.” We are told that</p><p>Aegon replied: “That is what we are doing.” Aegon continued to</p><p>insist his sister perform her wifely duties for the rest of her life.</p><p>Matters between them were in�amed further by Prince Aemon,</p><p>their brother, who had been inseparable from Naerys when they</p><p>were young. Aegon’s resentment of his noble, celebrated brother</p><p>was plain to all, for the king delighted in slighting Aemon and</p><p>Naerys both at every turn. Even after the Dragonknight died in his</p><p>defense, and Queen Naerys perished in childbed the year after,</p><p>Aegon IV did little to honor their memory.</p><p>The king’s quarrels with his close kin became all the worse after</p><p>his son Daeron grew old enough to voice his opinions. Kaeth’s Lives</p><p>of Four Kings makes it plain that the false accusations of the queen’s</p><p>adultery made by Ser Morgil Hastwyck were instigated by the king</p><p>himself, though at the time Aegon denied it. These claims were</p><p>disproved by Ser Morgil’s death in a trial by combat against the</p><p>Dragonknight. That these accusations came at the same time as</p><p>Aegon and Prince Daeron</p><p>were quarreling over the king’s plans to</p><p>launch an unprovoked war against Dorne was surely no coincidence.</p><p>It was also the �rst (but not the last) time that Aegon threatened to</p><p>name one of his bastards as his heir instead of Daeron.</p><p>Blackfyre, the sword of the Targaryen kings. (illustration credit 69)</p><p>After the deaths of his siblings, the king began to make barely</p><p>veiled references to his son’s alleged illegitimacy—something he</p><p>dared only because the Dragonknight was dead. His courtiers and</p><p>hangers-on aped the king, and this calumny spread.</p><p>In the last years of his reign, Prince Daeron proved the chief</p><p>obstacle to Aegon’s misrule. Some lords of the realm clearly saw</p><p>opportunity in the increasingly corpulent, gluttonous king who</p><p>could be convinced to part with honors, o�ces, and lands for the</p><p>promise of pleasures. Others, who condemned the king’s behavior,</p><p>began to �ock to Prince Daeron; despite all his threats and</p><p>calumnies and tasteless japes, the king never formally disowned his</p><p>son. Accounts di�er as to why: some suggest that some shriveled</p><p>part of Aegon still knew honor, or at least shame. The likeliest</p><p>cause, however, was that he knew that such an act would bring war</p><p>to the realm, for Daeron’s allies—chief among them the Prince of</p><p>Dorne, whose sister Daeron had wed—would defend his rights.</p><p>Perhaps it was for this reason that Aegon turned his attention to</p><p>Dorne, using the hatred for the Dornishmen that still burned in the</p><p>marches, the stormlands, and the Reach to suborn some of Daeron’s</p><p>allies and use them against his most powerful supporters.</p><p>Fortunately for the realm, the king’s plans to invade Dorne in</p><p>174 AC proved a complete failure. Though His Grace built a huge</p><p>�eet, thinking to succeed as Daeron the Young Dragon had done, it</p><p>was broken and scattered by storms on its way to Dorne.</p><p>This was far from the greatest folly of Aegon IV’s stillborn</p><p>invasion of Dorne, however, for His Grace had also turned to the</p><p>dubious pyromancers of the ancient Guild of Alchemists,</p><p>commanding them to “build me dragons.” These wood-and-iron</p><p>monstrosities, �tted with pumps that shot jets of wild�re, might</p><p>perhaps have been of some use in a siege. But Aegon proposed to</p><p>drag these devices up and through the Boneway, where there are</p><p>places so steep that the Dornishmen have carved steps.</p><p>They did not come even that far, however, for the �rst of the</p><p>dragons went up in �ames in the kingswood, far from the Boneway.</p><p>Soon all seven were burning. Hundreds of men burned in those</p><p>�res, along with almost a quarter of the kingswood. After that, the</p><p>king gave up his ambitions and never spoke of Dorne again.</p><p>The reign of this unworthy monarch came to an end in 184 AC,</p><p>when King Aegon was nine-and-forty years of age. He was grossly</p><p>fat, barely able to walk, and some wondered how his last mistress—</p><p>Serenei of Lys, the mother of Shiera Seastar—could ever have</p><p>withstood his embraces. The king himself died a horrible death, his</p><p>body so swollen and obese that he could no longer lift himself from</p><p>his couch, his limbs rotting and crawling with �eshworms. The</p><p>maesters claimed they had never seen its like, whilst septons</p><p>declared it a judgment of the gods. Aegon was given milk of the</p><p>poppy to dull his pain, but elsewise little could be done for him.</p><p>His last act before his death, all accounts agree, was to set out his</p><p>will. And in it, he left the bitterest poison the realm ever knew: he</p><p>legitimized all of his natural children, from the most baseborn to</p><p>the Great Bastards—the sons and daughters born to him by women</p><p>of noble birth. Scores of his natural children had never been</p><p>acknowledged; Aegon’s dying declaration meant naught to them.</p><p>For his acknowledged bastards, however, it meant a great deal. And</p><p>for the realm, it meant blood and �re for �ve generations.</p><p>The knighting of Daemon Blackfyre by his father, King Aegon IV. (illustration credit 70)</p><p>The nine mistresses of Aegon IV,</p><p>the Unworthy</p><p>LADY FALENA STOKEWORTH</p><p>Ten years older than the king</p><p>Lady Falena “made him a man” in 149, when Aegon was fourteen.</p><p>When a Kingsguard found them abed together in 151, his father</p><p>wed Falena to his master-at-arms, Lucas Lothston, and persuaded</p><p>the king to name Lothston Lord of Harrenhal in order to remove</p><p>Falena from court. However, over the next two years, Aegon paid</p><p>frequent visits to Harrenhal.</p><p>Children by Falena Stokeworth: None acknowledged.</p><p>MEGETTE (MERRY MEG)</p><p>The young and buxom wife of a blacksmith</p><p>While riding near Fairmarket in 155, Aegon’s horse threw a shoe,</p><p>and when he sought out the local smith, he came to notice the man’s</p><p>young wife. He went on to buy her for seven gold dragons (and the</p><p>threat of Ser Jo�rey Staunton of the Kingsguard). Megette was</p><p>installed in a house in King’s Landing; she and Aegon were even</p><p>“wed” in a secret ceremony conducted by a mummer playing a</p><p>septon. Megette gave her prince four children in as many years.</p><p>Prince Viserys put an end to it, returning Megette to her husband</p><p>and placing the daughters with the Faith to be trained as septas.</p><p>Megette was beaten to death within a year by the blacksmith.</p><p>Children by Merry Meg: Alysanne, Lily, Willow, Rosey.</p><p>LADY CASSELLA VAITH</p><p>Daughter of a Dornish lord</p><p>After the Submission of Sunspear, Aegon escorted the hostages that</p><p>the king had gathered from the lords of Dorne back to King’s</p><p>Landing. Among them was Cassella Vaith, a willowy maid with</p><p>green eyes and pale white-blond hair, whom Aegon ended up</p><p>keeping “hostage” in his own chambers. When the Dornishmen</p><p>revolted and murdered King Daeron, all the hostages were to be</p><p>killed, and Aegon—by then bored of her—returned Cassella to her</p><p>place with the other prisoners. However, the new king, Baelor,</p><p>pardoned all the hostages and personally took them back to Dorne.</p><p>Cassella never wed, and in her old age she was consumed by the</p><p>delusion that she had been Aegon’s one true love and that he would</p><p>soon send for her.</p><p>Children by Cassella Vaith: None.</p><p>BELLEGERE OTHERYS (THE BLACK PEARL OF BRAAVOS)</p><p>Smuggler, trader, sometime pirate, captain of the Widow Wind, born of</p><p>a union between a Braavosi merchant’s daughter and an envoy from the</p><p>Summer Isles</p><p>After Naerys fell pregnant and almost died in 161, King Baelor sent</p><p>Aegon to Braavos on a diplomatic mission. Accounts of the time</p><p>suggest it was an excuse to make certain Aegon left Naerys alone as</p><p>she recovered from a failed childbirth. There he met Bellegere</p><p>Otherys. His a�air with the Black Pearl continued for ten years,</p><p>though it was said that Bellegere had a husband in every port and</p><p>that Aegon was but one of many. She gave birth to three children</p><p>during the decade, two girls and a boy of doubtful paternity.</p><p>Children by the Black Pearl: Bellenora, Narha, Balerion.</p><p>(l. to r.): Lady Melissa Blackwood, Serenei of Lys, Lady Falena Stokeworth, Bellegere Otherys</p><p>(illustration credit 71)</p><p>LADY BARBA BRACKEN</p><p>The vivacious dark-haired daughter of Lord Bracken of Stone Hedge,</p><p>and a companion to the three princesses in Maidenvault</p><p>With Baelor’s death in 171 and Viserys II’s ascension to the throne,</p><p>the princesses were once again permitted male company. Aegon</p><p>(now Prince of Dragonstone and heir apparent) became entranced</p><p>with sixteen-year-old Barba. On his own ascent in 172, he named</p><p>her father as his Hand and openly took her for his mistress. She</p><p>bore him a bastard only a fortnight before another set of twins—a</p><p>stillborn boy and a girl, Daenerys, who survived—were delivered</p><p>by Queen Naerys. With the queen lingering near death, the Hand—</p><p>Barba’s father—talked openly of wedding his daughter to the King.</p><p>After the queen’s recovery, the scandal proved Barba’s undoing, as</p><p>young Prince Daeron and his uncle, the Dragonknight, forced Aegon</p><p>to send her and the bastard away. The boy, raised at Stone Hedge</p><p>by the Brackens, was called Aegor Rivers, but in time became</p><p>known as Bittersteel.</p><p>Children by Barba Bracken: Aegor Rivers (Bittersteel).</p><p>LADY MELISSA (MISSY) BLACKWOOD</p><p>The best loved of the king’s mistresses</p><p>Both younger and prettier than Lady Barba (albeit</p><p>far less buxom),</p><p>as well as more modest, Missy had a kind heart and generous nature</p><p>that led even Queen Naerys herself—as well as the Dragonknight</p><p>and Prince Daeron—to befriend her. During the �ve years of her</p><p>“reign,” Missy bore the king three bastards, most notably the boy</p><p>Brynden Rivers (born 175), later called Bloodraven.</p><p>Children by Melissa Blackwood: Mya, Gwenys, Brynden</p><p>(Bloodraven).</p><p>LADY BETHANY BRACKEN</p><p>Lady Barba’s younger sister</p><p>Bethany was groomed by her father and sister expressly to win the</p><p>king’s favor and displace Missy Blackwood. In 177, she caught</p><p>Aegon’s eye as he visited at Stone Hedge to see his bastard son,</p><p>Aegor. By now, the king was fat and foul-tempered, but Bethany</p><p>delighted him, and he took her back with him to King’s Landing.</p><p>However, Bethany found his royal embraces distressing. For</p><p>comfort, she turned to a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence</p><p>Toyne. The pair was discovered abed by Aegon himself in 178. Ser</p><p>Terrence was tortured to death and both Lady Bethany and her</p><p>father were executed. When Ser Terrence’s brothers sought to</p><p>avenge his death, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was slain while</p><p>defending his brother, King Aegon.</p><p>Children by Bethany Bracken: None.</p><p>LADY JEYNE LOTHSTON</p><p>Daughter of Lady Falena, the king’s �rst mistress, by either Lord Lucas</p><p>Lothston or the king himself</p><p>Jeyne was brought to court by her mother in 178, when she was</p><p>fourteen. Aegon made Lord Lothston his new Hand, and it was said</p><p>(but never proved) that he enjoyed mother and daughter together in</p><p>the same bed. He soon gave Jeyne a pox he’d caught from the</p><p>whores he’d been seeing after Lady Bethany’s execution, and the</p><p>Lothstons were then all sent from court again.</p><p>Children by Jeyne Lothston: None.</p><p>SERENEI OF LYS (SWEET SERENEI)</p><p>A Lysene beauty from an ancient but impoverished line, brought to court</p><p>by Lord Jon Hightower, the new Hand</p><p>Serenei was the most beautiful of Aegon’s mistresses, but she was</p><p>also reputed to be a sorceress. She died giving birth to the last of</p><p>the king’s bastard children, a girl called Shiera Seastar who became</p><p>the greatest beauty in the Seven Kingdoms, beloved of both her half</p><p>brothers, Bittersteel and Bloodraven, whose rivalry would ripen to</p><p>hatred.</p><p>Children by Serenei: Shiera.</p><p>(l. to r.): Lady Bethany Bracken, Lady Barba Bracken, Megette (Merry Meg), Lady Cassella</p><p>Vaith, Lady Jeyne Lothston (illustration credit 72)</p><p>DAERON II</p><p>IN THE 184TH year since Aegon’s Conquest, Aegon IV, the</p><p>Unworthy, at last let go of life.</p><p>His son and heir, Prince Daeron, departed Dragonstone within</p><p>the fortnight after learning of his father’s demise and was swiftly</p><p>crowned by the High Septon in the Red Keep. He chose to be</p><p>crowned with his father’s crown—a decision likely intended to quell</p><p>any remaining doubts about his legitimacy. Daeron then acted</p><p>swiftly to put right many of the things that Aegon had put wrong,</p><p>beginning by removing all the members of the king’s small council</p><p>and replacing them with men of his own choosing, most of whom</p><p>proved wise and capable councillors. It was a year and more before</p><p>the City Watch was similarly repaired, for King Aegon had often</p><p>used promotion to the Watch as a way to shower largesse on those</p><p>he most favored, and they in turn made sure that the brothels—and</p><p>even the decent women of the city—were available for Aegon’s</p><p>lusts.</p><p>Daeron did not stop there, however, in his e�orts to improve</p><p>those things that his father had corrupted or had left to rot through</p><p>malign neglect. He was conscientious in his duties to the realm and</p><p>sought to stabilize it in the wake of Aegon’s deathbed decree, which</p><p>legitimized all his bastard half siblings. Although he could not—and</p><p>would not—rescind his father’s last wishes, he did what he could to</p><p>keep the Great Bastards close, treating them honorably and</p><p>continuing the incomes that the king had bestowed on them. He</p><p>paid the dowry that Aegon had promised to the Archon of Tyrosh,</p><p>thereby seeing his half brother Daemon Blackfyre wed to Rohanne</p><p>of Tyrosh as Aegon had desired, for all that Ser Daemon was only</p><p>four-and-ten. On their wedding day, he granted Daemon a tract of</p><p>land near the Blackwater, with the right to raise a castle. Some said</p><p>he did such things to assert his rule and legitimacy over the Great</p><p>Bastards, and others because he was kind and just. But whatever the</p><p>truth, such e�orts sadly proved in vain.</p><p>Daeron II and Prince Maron Martell at the monument to King Baelor.(illustration credit 73)</p><p>Yet his realm was not marked solely by the question of the Great</p><p>Bastards, or even Aegon’s misrule. His marriage to Mariah of Dorne</p><p>—now Queen of the Seven Kingdoms—had been happy and fruitful,</p><p>and one of his earliest signi�cant acts after assuming the throne was</p><p>to begin negotiations with his good-brother, Prince Maron, to unify</p><p>Dorne under Targaryen rule. Two years of negotiation later, an</p><p>agreement was reached in which Prince Maron agreed to be</p><p>betrothed to Daeron’s sister, Daenerys, once she was of age. They</p><p>were wed the following year, and with that marriage, Prince Maron</p><p>knelt and swore his oaths of fealty before the Iron Throne.</p><p>King Daeron raised up the Dornish prince to great acclaim, and</p><p>together they departed the Red Keep and rode to the Great Sept to</p><p>lay a golden wreath at the foot of the statue of Baelor the Blessed</p><p>while proclaiming, “Baelor, your work is done.” It was a great</p><p>moment, at last unifying the realm from the Wall to the Summer</p><p>Sea as Aegon the Conqueror had once dreamed—and doing so</p><p>without the terrible cost of life that Daeron II’s namesake, the</p><p>Young Dragon, had paid.</p><p>In the following year, Daeron raised a great seat in the Dornish</p><p>Marches, near to where the boundaries of the Reach, the</p><p>stormlands, and Dorne met. Calling it Summerhall to mark the</p><p>peace he had created, it was more palace than castle and lightly</p><p>forti�ed at best; in the years to come, many sons of House</p><p>Targaryen would hold the seat as Prince of Summerhall.</p><p>However, Prince Maron had won a few concessions in the accord,</p><p>and the lords of Dorne held signi�cant rights and privileges that the</p><p>other great houses did not—the right to keep their royal title �rst</p><p>among them, but also the autonomy to maintain their own laws, the</p><p>right to assess and gather the taxes due to the Iron Throne with only</p><p>irregular oversight from the Red Keep, and other such matters.</p><p>Dissatisfaction at these concessions was one of the seeds from which</p><p>the �rst Blackfyre Rebellion sprang, as was the belief that Dorne</p><p>held too much in�uence over the king—for Daeron II brought many</p><p>Dornishmen to his court, some of whom were granted o�ces of</p><p>note.</p><p>It has been said in the years after Daemon Blackfyre</p><p>proved a traitor that his hatred of Daeron began to grow</p><p>early. It was Aegon’s desire—not Daemon’s—that he be</p><p>wed to Rohanne of Tyrosh. Instead, Daemon had</p><p>developed a passion for Daeron’s sister, young Princess</p><p>Daenerys. Only two years younger than Daemon, the</p><p>princess supposedly loved the bastard prince in turn, if the</p><p>singers can be believed, but neither Aegon IV nor Daeron II</p><p>were willing to let such feelings rule in matters of state.</p><p>Aegon saw more pro�t in a tie to Tyrosh, perhaps because</p><p>its �eet would be of use if he made another attempt to</p><p>conquer Dorne.</p><p>This seems plausible enough, but a di�erent tale claims</p><p>that Daemon was not so much opposed to wedding</p><p>Rohanne of Tyrosh as he was convinced that he could</p><p>follow in the footsteps of Aegon the Conqueror and</p><p>Maegor the Cruel and have more than one bride. Aegon</p><p>might even have promised to indulge him in this (some of</p><p>Blackfyre’s partisans later claimed this was the case) but</p><p>Daeron was of a di�erent mind entirely. Not only did</p><p>Daeron refuse to permit his brother more than one wife,</p><p>but he also gave Daenerys’s hand to Maron Martell, as part</p><p>of the bargain to �nally unite the Seven Kingdoms with</p><p>Dorne.</p><p>Whether Daenerys loved Daemon, as those who rose for</p><p>the Black Dragon later claimed, who could say? In the</p><p>years afterward, Daenerys was never aught but a loyal</p><p>wife to Prince Maron, and if</p><p>she mourned Daemon</p><p>Blackfyre, she left no record of it.</p><p>Still, Daeron’s reign quickly stabilized the realm, and he soon</p><p>came to be called Daeron the Good by the smallfolk and noble lords</p><p>alike. He was widely seen as just and good-hearted, even if some</p><p>questioned the in�uence of his Dornish wife. And though he was no</p><p>warrior—descriptions of the era note that he was small of frame,</p><p>with thin arms, round shoulders, and a scholarly disposition—two of</p><p>his four sons seemed all that could be wished in a knight, lord, or</p><p>heir. The eldest, Prince Baelor, won the name Breakspear at the age</p><p>of seventeen, following his famous victory at Princess Daenerys’s</p><p>wedding tourney; he defeated Daemon Blackfyre in the �nal tilt.</p><p>And his youngest son, Prince Maekar, seemed like to show a similar</p><p>prowess.</p><p>Yet too many men looked upon Baelor’s dark hair and eyes and</p><p>muttered that he was more Martell than Targaryen, even though he</p><p>proved a man who could win respect with ease and was as open-</p><p>handed and just as his father. Knights and lords of the Dornish</p><p>Marches came to mistrust Daeron, and Baelor as well, and began to</p><p>look more and more to the old days, when Dornishmen were the</p><p>enemy to �ght, not rivals for the king’s attention or largesse. And</p><p>then they would look at Daemon Blackfyre—grown tall and</p><p>powerful, half a god among mortal men, and with the Conqueror’s</p><p>sword in his possession—and wonder.</p><p>The seeds of rebellion had been planted, but it took years for</p><p>them to bear fruit. There was no �nal insult, no great wrong, that</p><p>led Daemon Blackfyre to turn against King Daeron. If it was truly</p><p>all for the love of Daenerys, how is it that eight years passed before</p><p>the rebellion bloomed? That was a long time to harbor thwarted</p><p>love, especially when Rohanne had already given him seven sons</p><p>and daughters besides, and Daenerys had also borne Prince Maron</p><p>several heirs.</p><p>In truth, the seeds found fertile ground because of Aegon the</p><p>Unworthy. Aegon had hated the Dornish and warred against them,</p><p>and those lords who desired the return of those days—despite all</p><p>the associated misrule—would never be happy with this peaceable</p><p>king. Many famed warriors who looked with dismay on the peace in</p><p>the realm and the Dornish in the king’s court began to seek Daemon</p><p>out.</p><p>Perhaps at �rst, Daemon Blackfyre merely indulged such talk for</p><p>the sake of his vanity. After all, years had passed between the �rst</p><p>men approaching Daemon and the actual rebellion. What, then,</p><p>tipped Daemon over into proclaiming for the throne? It seems likely</p><p>it was another of the Great Bastards: Ser Aegor Rivers, called</p><p>Bittersteel. Perhaps it was his Bracken blood that made Aegor so</p><p>choleric and so quick to take o�ense. Perhaps it was the</p><p>ignominious fall of the Brackens in King Aegon’s esteem, leading to</p><p>his exile from Aegon’s court. Or perhaps it was only his rivalry with</p><p>his half brother and fellow bastard Brynden Rivers, who had been</p><p>able to maintain his close relations at court—for Bloodraven’s</p><p>mother had been well loved during her life, and was fondly</p><p>remembered, so the Blackwoods did not su�er as the Brackens did</p><p>when the king cast o� his respective mistresses.</p><p>Whatever the case may be, Aegor Rivers soon began to press</p><p>Daemon Blackfyre to proclaim for the throne, and all the more so</p><p>after Daemon agreed to wed his eldest daughter, Calla, to Aegor.</p><p>Bitter his steel may have been, but worse was his tongue. He spilled</p><p>poison in Daemon’s ear, and with him came the clamoring of other</p><p>knights and lords with grievances.</p><p>In the end, years of such talk bore their fruit, and Daemon</p><p>Blackfyre made his decision. Yet it was a decision he made rashly,</p><p>for word soon reached King Daeron that Blackfyre meant to declare</p><p>himself king within the turn of the moon. (We do not know how</p><p>word came to Daeron, though Merion’s un�nished The Red Dragon</p><p>and the Black suggests that another of the Great Bastards, Brynden</p><p>Rivers, was involved.) The king sent the Kingsguard to arrest</p><p>Daemon before he could take his plans for treason any further.</p><p>Daemon was forewarned, and with the help of the famously hot-</p><p>tempered knight Ser Quentyn Ball, called Fireball, he was able to</p><p>escape the Red Keep safely. Daemon Blackfyre’s allies used this</p><p>attempted arrest as a cause for war, claiming that Daeron had acted</p><p>against Daemon out of no more than baseless fear. Others still</p><p>named him Daeron Falseborn, repeating the calumny that Aegon the</p><p>Unworthy himself was said to have circulated in the later years of</p><p>his reign: that he had been sired not by the king but by his brother,</p><p>the Dragonknight.</p><p>In this manner did the First Blackfyre Rebellion begin, in the year</p><p>196 AC. Reversing the colors of the traditional Targaryen arms to</p><p>show a black dragon on a red �eld, the rebels declared for Princess</p><p>Daena’s bastard son Daemon Blackfyre, First of His Name,</p><p>proclaiming him the eldest true son of King Aegon IV, and his half</p><p>brother Daeron the bastard. Subsequently many battles were fought</p><p>between the black and red dragons in the Vale, the westerlands, the</p><p>riverlands, and elsewhere.</p><p>Bittersteel leading the Golden Company. (illustration credit 74)</p><p>The rebellion ended at the Redgrass Field, nigh on a year later.</p><p>Some have written of the boldness of the men who fought with</p><p>Daemon, and others of their treason. But for all their valor in the</p><p>�eld and their enmity against Daeron, theirs was a lost cause.</p><p>Daemon and his eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon, were brought down</p><p>beneath the withering fall of arrows sent by Brynden Rivers and his</p><p>private guards, the Raven’s Teeth. This was followed by Bittersteel’s</p><p>mad charge, with Blackfyre in his hand, as he attempted to rally</p><p>Daemon’s forces. Meeting with Bloodraven in the midst of the</p><p>charge, a mighty duel ensued, which left Bloodraven blinded in one</p><p>eye and sent Bittersteel �eeing.</p><p>But the battle came to an end when Prince Baelor Breakspear</p><p>appeared with a host of stormlords and Dornishmen, falling on the</p><p>rebel rear, while the young Prince Maekar rallied what remained of</p><p>Lord Arryn’s van and made an implacable anvil against which the</p><p>rebels were hammered and destroyed. Ten thousand men had died</p><p>for Daemon Blackfyre’s vanity, and many more were wounded and</p><p>maimed. King Daeron’s e�orts at peace had been shattered, through</p><p>no fault of his own save perhaps too much mercy for his envious</p><p>half brother.</p><p>In the aftermath, King Daeron showed a sternness that few</p><p>expected. Many lords and knights who had supported the Black</p><p>Dragon had lands and seats and privileges stripped from them and</p><p>were forced to give over hostages. Daeron had trusted them, had</p><p>done all he could to rule justly, and still they turned against him.</p><p>Daemon Blackfyre’s surviving sons �ed to Tyrosh, their mother’s</p><p>home, and with them went Bittersteel. The realm would continue to</p><p>be troubled by the claims of the Blackfyre Pretenders for four more</p><p>generations, until the last of the descendants of Daemon Blackfyre</p><p>through the male line was sent to the grave.</p><p>With his half brothers dealt with and the strength of his sons and</p><p>heirs supporting him, many thought that King Daeron had now</p><p>ensured that the realm would be under Targaryen rule for centuries</p><p>to come. Few could doubt that Baelor Breakspear would be a great</p><p>king, for he was the heart of chivalry and the soul of wisdom, and</p><p>came to serve his father most ably as Hand. But no man can know</p><p>the will of the gods. Baelor Breakspear was cut down in his prime</p><p>by his own brother Maekar at the tourney at Ashford in the year</p><p>209 AC. It was not in the tilt, or the mêlée, but in a trial of seven—</p><p>the �rst in a century—in which Baelor fought on behalf of a lowly</p><p>hedge knight of no parentage of note. His death was a mishap,</p><p>almost certainly, and it is written that Prince Maekar always</p><p>bitterly regretted Baelor’s passing and marked its anniversary every</p><p>year. Yet Baelor died, and doubtless Maekar and the realm</p><p>wondered if one hedge knight was worth the loss of the Prince of</p><p>Dragonstone and the Hand of the King. (But then, they did not</p><p>know how high that hedge knight would rise—though</p><p>introduced by others in later</p><p>days.</p><p>Names such as Brandon the Builder, Garth Greenhand, Lann the</p><p>Clever, and Durran Godsgrief are names to conjure with, but it is</p><p>likely that their legends hold less truth than fancy. Elsewhere, I</p><p>shall endeavor to sift what grain can be found from the cha�, but</p><p>for now it is enough to acknowledge the tales.</p><p>And besides the legendary kings and the hundreds of kingdoms</p><p>from which the Seven Kingdoms were born, stories of such as</p><p>Symeon Star-Eyes, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, and other heroes</p><p>have become fodder for septons and singers alike. Did such heroes</p><p>once exist? It may be so. But when the singers number Serwyn of</p><p>the Mirror Shield as one of the Kingsguard—an institution that was</p><p>only formed during the reign of Aegon the Conqueror—we can see</p><p>why it is that few of these tales can ever be trusted. The septons</p><p>who �rst wrote them down took what details suited them and</p><p>added others, and the singers changed them—sometimes beyond all</p><p>recognition—for the sake of a warm place in some lord’s hall. In</p><p>such a way does some long-dead First Man become a knight who</p><p>follows the Seven and guards the Targaryen kings thousands of</p><p>years after he lived (if he ever did). The legion of boys and youths</p><p>made ignorant of the past history of Westeros by these foolish tales</p><p>cannot be numbered.</p><p>It is best to remember that when we speak of these</p><p>legendary founders of realms, we speak merely of some</p><p>early domains—generally centered on a high seat, such as</p><p>Casterly Rock or Winterfell—that in time incorporated</p><p>more and more land and power into their grasp. If Garth</p><p>Greenhand ever ruled what he claimed was the Kingdom of</p><p>the Reach, it is doubtful its writ was anything more than</p><p>notional beyond a fortnight’s ride from his halls. But from</p><p>such petty domains arose the mightier kingdoms that came</p><p>to dominate Westeros in the millennia to come.</p><p>A ruined ringfort of the First Men. (illustration credit 14)</p><p>THE LONG NIGHT</p><p>AS THE FIRST MEN established their realms following the Pact,</p><p>little troubled them save their own feuds and wars, or so the</p><p>histories tell us. It is also from these histories that we learn of the</p><p>Long Night, when a season of winter came that lasted a generation</p><p>—a generation in which children were born, grew into adulthood,</p><p>and in many cases died without ever seeing the spring. Indeed,</p><p>some of the old wives’ tales say that they never even beheld the</p><p>light of day, so complete was the winter that fell on the world.</p><p>While this last may well be no more than fancy, the fact that some</p><p>cataclysm took place many thousands of years ago seems certain.</p><p>Lomas Longstrider, in his Wonders Made by Man, recounts meeting</p><p>descendants of the Rhoynar in the ruins of the festival city of</p><p>Chroyane who have tales of a darkness that made the Rhoyne</p><p>dwindle and disappear, her waters frozen as far south as the joining</p><p>of the Selhoru. According to these tales, the return of the sun came</p><p>only when a hero convinced Mother Rhoyne’s many children—lesser</p><p>gods such as the Crab King and the Old Man of the River—to put</p><p>aside their bickering and join together to sing a secret song that</p><p>brought back the day.</p><p>It is also written that there are annals in Asshai of such a</p><p>darkness, and of a hero who fought against it with a red sword. His</p><p>deeds are said to have been performed before the rise of Valyria, in</p><p>the earliest age when Old Ghis was �rst forming its empire. This</p><p>legend has spread west from Asshai, and the followers of R’hllor</p><p>claim that this hero was named Azor Ahai, and prophesy his return.</p><p>In the Jade Compendium, Colloquo Votar recounts a curious legend</p><p>from Yi Ti, which states that the sun hid its face from the earth for a</p><p>lifetime, ashamed at something none could discover, and that</p><p>disaster was averted only by the deeds of a woman with a monkey’s</p><p>tail.</p><p>Though the Citadel has long sought to learn the manner by</p><p>which it may predict the length and change of seasons, all</p><p>e�orts have been confounded. Septon Barth appeared to</p><p>argue, in a fragmentary treatise, that the inconstancy of</p><p>the seasons was a matter of magical art rather than</p><p>trustworthy knowledge. Maester Nicol’s The Measure of the</p><p>Days—otherwise a laudable work containing much of use—</p><p>seems in�uenced by this argument. Based upon his work</p><p>on the movement of stars in the �rmament, Nicol argues</p><p>unconvincingly that the seasons might once have been of a</p><p>regular length, determined solely by the way in which the</p><p>globe faces the sun in its heavenly course. The notion</p><p>behind it seems true enough—that the lengthening and</p><p>shortening of days, if more regular, would have led to</p><p>more regular seasons—but he could �nd no evidence that</p><p>such was ever the case, beyond the most ancient of tales.</p><p>However, if this fell winter did take place, as the tales say, the</p><p>privation would have been terrible to behold. During the hardest</p><p>winters, it is customary for the oldest and most in�rm amongst the</p><p>northmen to claim they are going out hunting—knowing full well</p><p>they will never return and thus leaving a little more food for those</p><p>likelier to survive. Doubtless this practice was common during the</p><p>Long Night.</p><p>Yet there are other tales—harder to credit and yet more central</p><p>to the old histories—about creatures known as the Others.</p><p>According to these tales, they came from the frozen Land of Always</p><p>Winter, bringing the cold and darkness with them as they sought to</p><p>extinguish all light and warmth. The tales go on to say they rode</p><p>monstrous ice spiders and the horses of the dead, resurrected to</p><p>serve them, just as they resurrected dead men to �ght on their</p><p>behalf.</p><p>The Others mounted on ice spiders and dead horses, as the legends claim. (illustration credit</p><p>15)</p><p>How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all</p><p>such matters of the distant past have become. In the North, they tell</p><p>of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the</p><p>forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they</p><p>faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves.</p><p>Alone he �nally reached the children, despite the e�orts of the</p><p>white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point.</p><p>Thanks to the children, the �rst men of the Night’s Watch banded</p><p>together and were able to �ght—and win—the Battle for the Dawn:</p><p>the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others</p><p>�eeing to the icy north. Now, six thousand years later (or eight</p><p>thousand as True History puts forward), the Wall made to defend the</p><p>realms of men is still manned by the sworn brothers of the Night’s</p><p>Watch, and neither the Others nor the children have been seen in</p><p>many centuries.</p><p>Archmaester Fomas’s Lies of the Ancients—though little</p><p>regarded these days for its erroneous claims regarding the</p><p>founding of Valyria and certain lineal claims in the Reach</p><p>and westerlands—does speculate that the Others of legend</p><p>were nothing more than a tribe of the First Men, ancestors</p><p>of the wildlings, that had established itself in the far north.</p><p>Because of the Long Night, these early wildlings were then</p><p>pressured to begin a wave of conquests to the south. That</p><p>they became monstrous in the tales told thereafter,</p><p>according to Fomas, re�ects the desire of the Night’s Watch</p><p>and the Starks to give themselves a more heroic identity as</p><p>saviors of mankind, and not merely the bene�ciaries of a</p><p>struggle over dominion.</p><p>The dragonlords of Valyria. (illustration credit 16)</p><p>THE RISE OF VALYRIA</p><p>AS WESTEROS RECOVERED from the Long Night, a new power was</p><p>rising in Essos. The vast continent, stretching from the narrow sea</p><p>to the fabled Jade Sea and faraway Ulthos, seems to be the place</p><p>where civilization as we know it developed. The �rst of these (not</p><p>withstanding the dubious claims of Qarth, the YiTish legends of the</p><p>Great Empire of the Dawn, and the di�culties of �nding any truth</p><p>in the tales of legendary Asshai) was rooted in Old Ghis: a city built</p><p>upon slavery. The legendary founder of the city, Grazdan the Great,</p><p>remains so revered that men of the slaver families are still often</p><p>given his</p><p>that is a</p><p>di�erent history.)</p><p>Daemon Blackfyre leading the charge at the Redgrass Field. (illustration credit 75)</p><p>Baelor had sons—the young princes Valarr and Matarys—and so</p><p>too did Maekar, and the king had two other sons besides (though</p><p>the realm was less certain about Aerys, bookish and obsessed with</p><p>arcane matters, and Rhaegel, a sweet boy touched by madness). But</p><p>then the Great Spring Sickness swept the Seven Kingdoms, a�ecting</p><p>all save the Vale and Dorne, where they closed the ports and</p><p>mountain passes. Worst hit of all was King’s Landing. The High</p><p>Septon, the Seven’s voice on earth, died, as did a third of the Most</p><p>Devout, and nearly all the silent sisters in the city. Corpses were</p><p>piled in the ruins of the Dragonpit until they stood ten feet high</p><p>and, in the end, Bloodraven had the pyromancers burn the corpses</p><p>where they lay. A quarter of the city went up in �ames along with</p><p>them, but there was nothing else to be done.</p><p>Worse still, the sons of Baelor Breakspear were amongst those</p><p>carried away, as was Daeron II, whom many called the Good. He</p><p>had reigned for �ve-and-twenty years, and most of those years saw</p><p>peace and plenty for the realm.</p><p>In Essos, Bittersteel gathered exiled lords and knights, and</p><p>their descendants, to him. He formed the Golden Company</p><p>in 212 AC, and soon established it as the foremost free</p><p>company of the Disputed Lands. “Beneath the gold, the</p><p>bitter steel” became their battle cry, renowned across</p><p>Essos. After Bittersteel, the company was led by</p><p>descendants of Daemon Blackfyre until the last of them,</p><p>Maelys the Monstrous, was slain in the Stepstones.</p><p>AERYS I</p><p>ASSUMING THE THRONE in 209 AC, Daeron’s second son, Aerys,</p><p>had never imagined he would be king, and was singularly ill suited</p><p>to sit the Iron Throne. Aerys was learned, in his way, though his</p><p>interests were largely to do with dusty tomes concerned with</p><p>ancient prophecy and the higher mysteries. Wed to Aelinor Penrose,</p><p>he never showed an interest in getting her with child, and rumor</p><p>had it that he had even failed to consummate the marriage. His</p><p>small council, at their wits’ ends, hoped it was simply some dislike</p><p>of her that moved him, and thus they urged him to put her aside to</p><p>take another wife. But he would not hear of it.</p><p>Donning the crown during the Great Spring Sickness, Aerys I</p><p>faced a realm in turmoil from the �rst. Hardly had the plague begun</p><p>to ebb when Dagon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, sent ironborn</p><p>ships reaving all up and down the shores of the Sunset Sea, whilst</p><p>across the narrow sea Bittersteel plotted with the sons of Daemon</p><p>Blackfyre. Perhaps it was because of these di�culties that Aerys</p><p>turned to Brynden Rivers to serve as his Hand.</p><p>It has been suggested by some that a likelier cause for</p><p>Bloodraven’s rise to power was the fact that Aerys’s</p><p>interest in arcane lore and ancient history matched that of</p><p>Rivers, whose studies of the higher mysteries were an open</p><p>secret at the time. Bloodraven had already risen to</p><p>prominence at the court, but few expected that Aerys</p><p>would name him Hand. When he did, it kindled a quarrel</p><p>between the king and his brother, Prince Maekar, who had</p><p>expected the Handship to come to him. Thereafter Prince</p><p>Maekar departed King’s Landing for Summerhall for years</p><p>to come.</p><p>Bloodraven proved to be a capable Hand, but also a master of</p><p>whisperers who rivaled Lady Misery, and there were those who</p><p>thought he and his half sister and paramour, Shiera Seastar, used</p><p>sorcery to ferret out secrets. It became common to refer to his</p><p>“thousand eyes and one,” and men both high and low began to</p><p>distrust their neighbor for fear of their being a spy in Bloodraven’s</p><p>employ. Yet Aerys had need of spies, given the trouble that</p><p>followed the Great Spring Sickness. Summer came, and with it a</p><p>drought that lasted more than two years. Many blamed the king,</p><p>and many more accused Bloodraven. There were poor brothers who</p><p>preached treason, and knights and lords as well. And amongst those</p><p>were some who whispered a speci�c treason: that the Black Dragon</p><p>must return from across the narrow sea and take his rightful place.</p><p>Lord Gormon Peake was at the center of an attempt to bring</p><p>about a new uprising. For his role in the First Blackfyre Rebellion,</p><p>Peake had been stripped of two of the three castles his house had</p><p>held for centuries. After the drought and the Great Spring Sickness,</p><p>Lord Gormon convinced Daemon Blackfyre’s eldest surviving son,</p><p>Daemon the Younger, to cross the narrow sea and make a play for</p><p>the throne.</p><p>The conspiracy came to a head in 211 AC at the wedding tourney</p><p>at Whitewalls, the great seat that Lord Butterwell had raised near</p><p>the Gods Eye. This was the same Butterwell who had once been</p><p>Daeron’s Hand, until the king had dismissed him in favor of Lord</p><p>Hayford because of his suspicious failure to act successfully against</p><p>Daemon Blackfyre in the early days of his rebellion. At Whitewalls,</p><p>under pretense of celebrating Lord Butterwell’s marriage and</p><p>competing in the tournament, many lords and knights had gathered,</p><p>all of whom shared a desire to place a Blackfyre on the throne.</p><p>Were it not for the fact that Bloodraven had informants among</p><p>the conspirators, Daemon the Younger could have launched a</p><p>troubling rebellion from within the heart of the riverlands, but even</p><p>before the tourney had concluded, the Hand turned up outside</p><p>Whitewalls with a host of his own, and the Second Blackfyre</p><p>Rebellion ended before it could truly be said to have begun.</p><p>Gormon Peake was among the conspirators executed in the wake of</p><p>the thwarted rebellion, while others such as Lord Butterwell</p><p>su�ered the loss of land and seats. As for Daemon, he lived on for</p><p>several more years, a hostage in the Red Keep. Some wondered at</p><p>his imprisonment, but the wisdom of it was plain: his next eldest</p><p>brother, Haegon, could not claim the throne if Daemon were still</p><p>alive.</p><p>That Daemon the Younger dreamed of becoming king is</p><p>well-known, as is the fact that Bittersteel did not support</p><p>him in his e�ort to claim the throne. But why Bittersteel</p><p>supported the father but refused the son remains a question</p><p>that is sometimes argued over in the halls of the Citadel.</p><p>Many will claim that Young Daemon and Lord Gormon</p><p>could not convince Bittersteel that their plan was sound,</p><p>and truth be told, it seems a fair argument; Peake was</p><p>blind to reason in his thirst for revenge and the recovery of</p><p>his seats, and Daemon was convinced that he would</p><p>succeed no matter the odds. Yet others suggest that</p><p>Bittersteel was a hard man who had little use for anything</p><p>beyond war and mistrusted Daemon’s dreams and his love</p><p>of music and �ne things. And others still raise an eyebrow</p><p>at Daemon’s close relationship to the young Lord</p><p>Cockshaw, and suggest that this would have troubled</p><p>Aegor Rivers enough to deny the young man his aid.</p><p>The Second Blackfyre Rebellion proved a debacle, but that was</p><p>not always to be the case. In 219 AC, Haegon Blackfyre and</p><p>Bittersteel launched the Third Blackfyre Rebellion. Of the deeds</p><p>done then, both good and ill—of the leadership of Maekar, the</p><p>actions of Aerion Bright�ame, the courage of Maekar’s youngest</p><p>son, and the second duel between Bloodraven and Bittersteel—we</p><p>know well. The pretender Haegon I Blackfyre died in the aftermath</p><p>of battle, slain treacherously after he had given up his sword, but</p><p>Ser Aegor Rivers, Bittersteel, was taken alive and returned to the</p><p>Red Keep in chains. Many still insist that if he had been put to the</p><p>sword then and there, as Prince Aerion and Bloodraven urged, it</p><p>might have meant an early end to the Blackfyre ambitions.</p><p>But that was not to be. Though Bittersteel was tried and found</p><p>guilty of high treason, King Aerys spared his life, instead</p><p>commanding that he be sent to the Wall to live out his days as a</p><p>man of the Night’s Watch. That proved a foolish mercy, for the</p><p>Blackfyres still had many friends at court, some of them only too</p><p>willing to play the informer. The ship carrying Bittersteel and a</p><p>dozen other captives was taken in the narrow sea on the way to</p><p>Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and Aegor Rivers</p><p>was freed and returned to</p><p>the Golden Company. Before the year was out, he crowned</p><p>Haegon’s eldest son as King Daemon III Blackfyre in Tyrosh, and</p><p>resumed his plotting against the king who had spared him.</p><p>King Aerys sat the Iron Throne for the better part of two more</p><p>years, before dying in 221 AC of natural causes.</p><p>In the course of that reign, His Grace had recognized a series of</p><p>heirs, though none were children of his body; Aerys died without</p><p>issue, his marriage still unconsummated. His brother Rhaegel, third</p><p>son of Daeron the Good, had predeceased him, choking to death</p><p>upon a lamprey pie in 215 AC during a feast. Rhaegel’s son, Aelor,</p><p>then became the new Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the throne,</p><p>only to die two years after, slain in a grotesque mishap by the hand</p><p>of his own twin sister and wife, Aelora, under circumstances that</p><p>left her mad with grief. (Sadly, Aelora eventually took her own life</p><p>after being attacked at a masked ball by three men known to</p><p>history as the Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig.)</p><p>The last of the heirs Aerys recognized before his death would be</p><p>the one to succeed him to the throne: the king’s sole surviving</p><p>brother, Prince Maekar.</p><p>The arrest of Daemon II Blackfyre. (illustration credit 76)</p><p>MAEKAR I</p><p>MAEKAR WAS AN energetic king and a warrior of note, but also a</p><p>harsh man, quick to judge and to condemn. He had never possessed</p><p>his brother Baelor’s gifts that made friends and allies come easily,</p><p>and after his brother’s death at his hands—however inadvertent—he</p><p>became even more stern and unforgiving. Such was his desire to</p><p>split from the past that he had a new crown made—a warlike crown</p><p>with black iron points in a band of red gold, since Aegon the</p><p>Conqueror’s crown had been lost after Daeron I’s death in Dorne.</p><p>Yet Maekar ruled in a time of relative peace, between two of the</p><p>Blackfyre Rebellions, and what turmoil there was in his reign was</p><p>largely sparked by his own sons.</p><p>The chief issue of Maekar’s reign was the question of his heirs.</p><p>He had a number of sons and daughters, but there were those who</p><p>had reason to doubt their �tness to rule. The eldest, Prince Daeron,</p><p>was known as the Drunken, and preferred to be styled Prince of</p><p>Summerhall because he found Dragonstone such a gloomy abode.</p><p>Next after him was Prince Aerion, known as Bright�ame or</p><p>Bright�re—a most puissant knight but cruel and capricious, and a</p><p>dabbler in the black arts. Both of these princes died before their</p><p>father, though both had issue. Prince Daeron sired a daughter,</p><p>Vaella, in 222 AC, but the girl sadly proved simple. Aerion</p><p>Bright�re’s son was born in 232 AC, and given the ominous name of</p><p>Maegor by his sire, but the Bright Prince himself died that same</p><p>year when he drank a cup of wild�re in the belief that it would</p><p>allow him to transform himself into a dragon.</p><p>The crown of King Maekar I. (illustration credit 77)</p><p>Maekar’s third son, Aemon, was a bookish boy who had been</p><p>sent to the Citadel in his youth and emerged as a sworn and chained</p><p>maester. Youngest of the king’s sons was Prince Aegon, who had</p><p>served as squire to a hedge knight—the same hedge knight in whose</p><p>defense Baelor Breakspear died—whilst a boy, and earned the name</p><p>“Egg.” “Daeron is a jape and Aerion is a fright, but Aegon is more</p><p>than half a peasant” one court wit was heard to remark.</p><p>When King Maekar died in battle in 233 AC, whilst leading his</p><p>army against a rebellious lord on the Dornish Marches, considerable</p><p>confusion arose as to the succession. Rather than risk another Dance</p><p>of the Dragons, the King’s Hand, Bloodraven, elected to call a Great</p><p>Council to decide the matter.</p><p>In 233 AC, hundred of lords great and small assembled in King’s</p><p>Landing. With both of Maekar’s elder sons deceased, there were</p><p>four possible claimants. The Great Council dismissed Prince</p><p>Daeron’s sweet but simple-minded daughter Vaella immediately.</p><p>Only a few spoke up for Aerion Bright�ame’s son Maegor; an infant</p><p>king would have meant a long, contentious regency, and there were</p><p>also fears that the boy might have inherited his father’s cruelty and</p><p>madness. Prince Aegon was the obvious choice, but some lords</p><p>distrusted him as well, for his wanderings with his hedge knight had</p><p>left him “half a peasant,” according to many. Enough hated him, in</p><p>fact, that an e�ort was made to determine whether his elder brother</p><p>Maester Aemon might be released from his vows, but Aemon</p><p>refused, and nothing came of it.</p><p>Even as the Great Council was debating, however, another</p><p>claimant appeared in King’s Landing: none other than Aenys</p><p>Blackfyre, the �fth of the Black Dragon’s seven sons. When the</p><p>Great Council had �rst been announced, Aenys had written from</p><p>exile in Tyrosh, putting forward his case in the hope that his words</p><p>might win him the Iron Throne that his forebears had thrice failed</p><p>to win with their swords. Bloodraven, the King’s Hand, had</p><p>responded by o�ering him a safe conduct, so the pretender might</p><p>come to King’s Landing and present his claim in person.</p><p>Unwisely, Aenys accepted. Yet hardly had he entered the city</p><p>when the gold cloaks seized hold of him and dragged him to the</p><p>Red Keep, where his head was struck o� forthwith and presented to</p><p>the lords of the Great Council, as a warning to any who might still</p><p>have Blackfyre sympathies.</p><p>Soon thereafter, the “Prince Who Was An Egg” was chosen by a</p><p>majority of the Great Council. The fourth son of a fourth son, Aegon</p><p>V would become widely known as Aegon the Unlikely for having</p><p>stood so far out of the succession in his youth.</p><p>AEGON V</p><p>THE FIRST ACT of Aegon’s reign was the arrest of Brynden Rivers,</p><p>the King’s Hand, for the murder of Aenys Blackfyre. Bloodraven did</p><p>not deny that he had lured the pretender into his power by the o�er</p><p>of a safe conduct, but contended that he had sacri�ced his own</p><p>personal honor for the good of the realm.</p><p>Though many agreed, and were pleased to see another Blackfyre</p><p>pretender removed, King Aegon felt he had no choice but to</p><p>condemn the Hand, lest the word of the Iron Throne be seen as</p><p>worthless. Yet after the sentence of death was pronounced, Aegon</p><p>o�ered Bloodraven the chance to take the black and join the Night’s</p><p>Watch. This he did. Ser Brynden Rivers set sail for the Wall late in</p><p>the year of 233 AC. (No one intercepted his ship). Two hundred</p><p>men went with him, many of them archers from Bloodraven’s</p><p>personal guard, the Raven’s Teeth. The king’s brother, Maester</p><p>Aemon, was also amongst them.</p><p>Bloodraven would rise to become Lord Commander of the</p><p>Night’s Watch in 239 AC, serving until his disappearance</p><p>during a ranging beyond the Wall in 252 AC.</p><p>Aegon’s reign was a challenging one, starting as it did in the</p><p>midst of a winter that had lasted three years and showed no signs of</p><p>abating. There was starvation and su�ering in the North, as there</p><p>had been a hundred years before, in the long winter that reigned</p><p>from 130 to 135 AC. King Aegon, always concerned for the welfare</p><p>of the poor and weak, did what he could to increase the �ow of</p><p>grain and other food to the North, but some felt he did too much in</p><p>this regard.</p><p>His rule was also quickly tested by those whose a�airs he had</p><p>meddled in too often as a prince, attempting to reduce their rights</p><p>and privileges. Nor had the Blackfyre threat ended with the death of</p><p>Aenys Blackfyre; Bloodraven’s infamous betrayal had only hardened</p><p>the enmity of the exiles across the narrow sea. In 236 AC, as a cruel</p><p>six-year-long winter drew to a close, the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion</p><p>saw the self-styled King Daemon III Blackfyre, son of Haegon and</p><p>grandson of Daemon I, cross the narrow sea with Bittersteel and the</p><p>Golden Company at his back, in a fresh attempt to seize the Iron</p><p>Throne.</p><p>The invaders landed on Massey’s Hook, south of Blackwater Bay,</p><p>but few rallied to their banners. King Aegon V himself rode out to</p><p>meet them, with his three sons by his side. In the Battle of</p><p>Wendwater Bridge, the Blackfyres su�ered a shattering defeat, and</p><p>Daemon III was slain by the Kingsguard knight Ser Duncan the Tall,</p><p>the hedge knight for whom “Egg” had served as a squire. Bittersteel</p><p>eluded capture and escaped once again, only to emerge a few years</p><p>later in the Disputed Lands, �ghting with his sellswords in a</p><p>meaningful skirmish between Tyrosh and Myr. Ser Aegor Rivers</p><p>was sixty-nine years of age when he fell, and it is said he died as he</p><p>had lived, with a sword in his hand and de�ance upon his lips. Yet</p><p>his legacy would live on in the Golden Company and the Blackfyre</p><p>line he had served and protected.</p><p>King Aegon the Unlikely (standing at back) and his sons (l. to r.) Duncan, Jaehaerys, and</p><p>Daeron. (illustration credit 78)</p><p>There were other battles during the time of Aegon V, for the</p><p>unlikely king was forced to spend much of his reign in armor,</p><p>quelling one rising or another. Though beloved by the smallfolk,</p><p>King Aegon made many enemies amongst the lords of the realm,</p><p>whose powers he wished to curtail. He enacted numerous reforms</p><p>and granted rights and protections to the commons that they had</p><p>never known before, but each of these measures provoked �erce</p><p>opposition and sometimes open de�ance amongst the lords. The</p><p>most outspoken of his foes went so far as to denounce Aegon V as a</p><p>“bloody-handed tyrant intent on depriving us of our gods-given</p><p>rights and liberties.”</p><p>It was well-known that the resistance against him taxed Aegon’s</p><p>patience—especially as the compromises a king must make to rule</p><p>well often left his greatest hopes receding further and further into</p><p>the future. As one de�ance followed another, His Grace found</p><p>himself forced to bow to the recalcitrant lords more often than he</p><p>wished. A student of history and lover of books, Aegon V was oft</p><p>heard to say that had he only had dragons, as the �rst Aegon had,</p><p>he could have remade the realm anew, with peace and prosperity</p><p>and justice for all.</p><p>Even his sons proved a trial to this good-hearted king, when they</p><p>might have been a strength. Aegon V had married for love, taking</p><p>to wife the Lady Betha Blackwood, the spirited (some say willful)</p><p>daughter of the Lord of Raventree Hall, who became known as</p><p>Black Betha for her dark eyes and raven hair. When they wed, in</p><p>220 AC, the bride was nineteen and Aegon twenty, so far down in</p><p>the line of succession that the match provoked no opposition. In the</p><p>years that followed, Black Betha gave Aegon three sons (Duncan,</p><p>Jaehaerys, and Daeron) and two daughters (Shaera and Rhaelle).</p><p>It had long been the custom of House Targaryen to wed brother</p><p>to sister to keep the blood of the dragon pure, but for whatever</p><p>cause, Aegon V had become convinced that such incestuous unions</p><p>did more harm than good. Instead he resolved to join his children in</p><p>marriage with the sons and daughters of some of the greatest lords</p><p>of the Seven Kingdoms, in the hopes of winning their support for his</p><p>reforms and strengthening his rule.</p><p>With the help of Black Betha, a number of advantageous</p><p>betrothals were made and celebrated in 237 AC whilst Aegon’s</p><p>children were still young. Had the marriages taken place, much</p><p>good might have come of them … but His Grace had failed to</p><p>account for the willfulness of his own blood. Betha Blackwood’s</p><p>children proved to be as stubborn as their mother, and like their</p><p>father, chose to follow their hearts when choosing mates.</p><p>Aegon’s eldest son Duncan, Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the</p><p>throne, was the �rst to defy him. Though betrothed to a daughter of</p><p>House Baratheon of Storm’s End, Duncan became enamored of a</p><p>strange, lovely, and mysterious girl who called herself Jenny of</p><p>Oldstones in 239 AC, whilst traveling in the riverlands. Though she</p><p>dwelt half-wild amidst ruins and claimed descent from the long-</p><p>vanished kings of the First Men, the smallfolk of surrounding</p><p>villages mocked such tales, insisting that she was only some half-</p><p>mad peasant girl, and perhaps even a witch.</p><p>It was true that Aegon had been a friend to the smallfolk, had</p><p>practically grown up among them, but to countenance the marriage</p><p>of the heir to the throne to a commoner of uncertain birth was</p><p>beyond him. His Grace did all he could to have the marriage</p><p>undone, demanding that Duncan put Jenny aside. The prince shared</p><p>his father’s stubbornness, however, and refused him. Even when the</p><p>High Septon, Grand Maester, and small council joined together to</p><p>insist King Aegon force his son to choose between the Iron Throne</p><p>and this wild woman of the woods, Duncan would not budge.</p><p>Rather than give up Jenny, he foreswore his claim to the crown in</p><p>favor of his brother Jaehaerys, and abdicated as Prince of</p><p>Dragonstone.</p><p>Even that could not restore the peace, nor win back the</p><p>friendship of Storm’s End, however. The father of the spurned girl,</p><p>Lord Lyonel Baratheon of Storm’s End—known as the Laughing</p><p>Storm and famed for his prowess in battle—was not a man easily</p><p>appeased when his pride was wounded. A short, bloody rebellion</p><p>ensued, ending only when Ser Duncan of the Kingsguard defeated</p><p>Lord Lyonel in single combat, and King Aegon gave his solemn</p><p>word that his youngest daughter, Rhaelle, would wed Lord Lyonel’s</p><p>heir. To seal the bargain, Princess Rhaelle was sent to Storm’s End</p><p>to serve as Lord Lyonel’s cupbearer and companion to his lady wife.</p><p>Jenny of Oldstones—Lady Jenny, as she was called by courtesy—</p><p>was eventually accepted at court, and throughout the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms the smallfolk held her especially dear. She and her prince,</p><p>forever after known as the Prince of Dragon�ies, were a favorite</p><p>subject of singers for many years.</p><p>Jenny of Oldstones was accompanied to court by a</p><p>dwar�sh, albino woman who was reputed to be a woods</p><p>witch in the riverlands. Lady Jenny herself claimed, in her</p><p>ignorance, that she was a child of the forest.</p><p>Next was Prince Jaehaerys, now Prince of Dragonstone. Though</p><p>King Aegon had acquired a distaste for the Valyrian custom of</p><p>incestuous marriage during his years amongst the smallfolk, Prince</p><p>Jaehaerys was of a more traditional bent, for from a very early age</p><p>he had loved his sister Shaera and dreamed of wedding her in the</p><p>old Targaryen fashion. Once aware of his desires, King Aegon and</p><p>Queen Betha had done their best to separate the two, yet somehow</p><p>distance only seemed to in�ame the mutual passion of this prince</p><p>and princess.</p><p>Prince Jaehaerys was not as forceful as his brother, but when</p><p>Duncan de�ed his father to follow his own heart, and the king and</p><p>court yielded to his desire, the younger prince did not fail to take</p><p>note. In 240 AC, a year after Prince Duncan’s marriage, Prince</p><p>Jaehaerys and Princess Shaera each eluded their guardians and were</p><p>secretly married. Jaehaerys was �fteen and Shaera fourteen at the</p><p>time of their wedding. By the time the king and queen learned what</p><p>had happened, the marriage had already been consummated. Aegon</p><p>felt he had no choice but to accept it. Once again the king had to</p><p>deal with the wounded pride and anger of the noble houses thus</p><p>a�ronted, for Jaehaerys had been betrothed to Celia Tully, daughter</p><p>of the Lord of Riverrun, and Shaera to Luthor Tyrell, the heir to</p><p>Highgarden.</p><p>Jaehaerys and Shaera would have two children, Aerys and</p><p>Rhaella. On the word of Jenny of Oldstone’s woods witch,</p><p>Prince Jaehaerys determined to wed Aerys to Rhaella, or</p><p>so the accounts from his court tell us. King Aegon washed</p><p>his hands of it in frustration, letting the prince have his</p><p>way.</p><p>Corrupted by the example of his brothers, even King Aegon’s</p><p>youngest son Prince Daeron vexed his father in like manner. Though</p><p>betrothed to Lady Olenna Redwyne of the Arbor when both of them</p><p>were nine, Prince Daeron repudiated the match in 246 AC, when he</p><p>was eighteen…though in his case, there appears to have been no</p><p>other woman, for Daeron remained unwed throughout the</p><p>remainder of his short life. A born soldier who rejoiced in</p><p>tournament and battle, he preferred the companionship of Ser</p><p>Jeremy Norridge, a dashing young knight who had been with the</p><p>prince since the two of them were squires together at Highgarden.</p><p>Prince Daeron brought to his father, Aegon, an altogether deeper</p><p>sort of grief when he was killed in battle in 251 AC, leading an</p><p>army against the Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig. Ser Jeremy</p><p>died at his</p><p>side, but the rebellion was quashed, and the rebels slain or hanged.</p><p>In 258 AC on Essos, another challenge rose to Aegon’s reign,</p><p>when nine outlaws, exiles, pirates, and sellsword captains met in the</p><p>Disputed Lands beneath the Tree of Crowns to form an unholy</p><p>alliance. The Band of Nine swore their oath of mutual aid and</p><p>support in carving out kingdoms for each of their members.</p><p>Amongst them was the last Blackfyre, Maelys the Monstrous, who</p><p>had command of the Golden Company, and the kingdom they</p><p>pledged to win for him was the Seven Kingdoms. Prince Duncan,</p><p>when told of the pact, famously remarked that crowns were being</p><p>sold nine a penny; thereafter the Band of Nine became known as the</p><p>Ninepenny Kings in Westeros. It was thought at �rst that the Free</p><p>Cities of Essos would surely bring their power against them and put</p><p>an end to their pretensions, but nonetheless preparations were</p><p>made, should Maelys and his allies turn on the Seven Kingdoms. But</p><p>there was no great urgency to them, and King Aegon remained</p><p>intent on his reign.</p><p>And intent on one more thing: dragons. As he grew older, Aegon</p><p>V had come to dream of dragons �ying once more above the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms of Westeros. In this, he was not unlike his predecessors,</p><p>who brought septons to pray over the last eggs, mages to work</p><p>spells over them, and maesters to pore over them. Though friends</p><p>and counselors sought to dissuade him, King Aegon grew ever more</p><p>convinced that only with dragons would he ever wield su�cient</p><p>power to make the changes he wished to make in the realm and</p><p>force the proud and stubborn lords of the Seven Kingdoms to accept</p><p>his decrees.</p><p>The last years of Aegon’s reign were consumed by a search for</p><p>ancient lore about the dragon breeding of Valyria, and it was said</p><p>that Aegon commissioned journeys to places as far away as Asshai-</p><p>by-the-Shadow with the hopes of �nding texts and knowledge that</p><p>had not been preserved in Westeros.</p><p>What became of the dream of dragons was a grievous tragedy</p><p>born in a moment of joy. In the fateful year 259 AC, the king</p><p>summoned many of those closest to him to Summerhall, his favorite</p><p>castle, there to celebrate the impending birth of his �rst great-</p><p>grandchild, a boy later named Rhaegar, to his grandson Aerys and</p><p>granddaughter Rhaella, the children of Prince Jaehaerys.</p><p>It is unfortunate that the tragedy that transpired at Summerhall</p><p>left very few witnesses alive, and those who survived would not</p><p>speak of it. A tantalizing page of Gyldayn’s history—surely one of</p><p>the very last written before his own death—hints at much, but the</p><p>ink that was spilled over it in some mishap blotted out too much.</p><p>FROM THE HISTORY OF ARCHMAESTER GYLDAYN</p><p>…the blood of the dragon gathered in one…</p><p>…seven eggs, to honor the seven gods, though the king’s</p><p>own septon had warned…</p><p>…pyromancers…</p><p>…wild �re…</p><p>…�ames grew out of control…towering…burned so</p><p>hot that…</p><p>…died, but for the valor of the Lord Comman…</p><p>The destruction of Summerhall. (illustration credit 79)</p><p>JAEHAERYS II</p><p>THE TRAGEDY OF Summerhall brought Jaehaerys, the Second of</p><p>His Name, to the Iron Throne in 259 AC. Scarcely had he donned</p><p>the crown than the Seven Kingdoms found themselves plunged into</p><p>war, for the Ninepenny Kings had taken and sacked the Free City of</p><p>Tyrosh and seized the Stepstones; from there, they stood poised to</p><p>attack Westeros.</p><p>THE NAMES AND STYLES OF THE BAND OF NINE, WHO</p><p>CAUSED GREAT TURMOIL IN ESSOS AND THE</p><p>STEPSTONES</p><p>THE OLD MOTHER: A pirate queen.</p><p>SAMARRO SAAN, THE LAST VALYRIAN: A notorious pirate from</p><p>a notorious family of pirates from Lys, with the blood of</p><p>Valyria in his veins.</p><p>XHOBAR QHOQUA, THE EBON PRINCE: An exile prince from the</p><p>Summer Isle, he had found his fortunes in the Disputed</p><p>Lands and led a sellsword company.</p><p>LIOMOND LASHARE, THE LORD OF BATTLES: A famed sellsword</p><p>captain.</p><p>SPOTTED TOM THE BUTCHER: Hailing from Westeros, he was</p><p>captain of a free company in the Disputed Lands.</p><p>SER DERRICK FOSSOWAY, THE BAD APPLE: An exile from</p><p>Westeros, and a knight with a black reputation.</p><p>NINE EYES: Captain of the Jolly Fellows.</p><p>ALEQUO ADARYS, THE SILVERTONGUE: A Tyroshi merchant</p><p>prince who was wealthy and ambitious.</p><p>MAELYS BLACKFYRE, THE MONSTROUS: Captain of the Golden</p><p>Company, named for his grotesquely huge torso and arms,</p><p>fearsome strength, and savage nature. A second head grew</p><p>from his neck, no bigger than a �st. He won command of</p><p>the Golden Company by �ghting his cousin, Daemon</p><p>Blackfyre, for it, killing his cousin’s destrier with a single</p><p>punch and then twisting Daemon’s head until it was torn</p><p>from his shoulders.</p><p>Jaehaerys had known that the Band of Nine meant to win the</p><p>Seven Kingdoms for Maelys the Monstrous, who had declared</p><p>himself King Maelys I Blackfyre, but like his father, Aegon,</p><p>Jaehaerys had hoped the alliance of rogues would founder in Essos,</p><p>or fall at the hands of some alliance amongst the Free Cities. Now</p><p>the moment was at hand, and King Aegon V was gone, as was the</p><p>Prince of Dragon�ies. Prince Daeron, that splendid knight, had died</p><p>years before, leaving only Jaehaerys, the least martial of Aegon’s</p><p>three sons.</p><p>The new king was four-and-thirty years of age as he ascended the</p><p>Iron Throne. No one would have called him formidable. Unlike his</p><p>brothers, Jaehaerys II Targaryen was thin and scrawny, and had</p><p>battled various ailments all his life. Yet he did not lack for courage,</p><p>or intelligence. Drawing on his father’s plans, His Grace put aside</p><p>his grief, called his lords bannermen, and resolved to meet the</p><p>Ninepenny Kings upon the Stepstones, choosing to take the war to</p><p>them rather than awaiting their landing on the shores of the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms.</p><p>King Jaehaerys had intended to lead the attack upon the</p><p>Ninepenny Kings himself, but his Hand, Lord Ormund Baratheon,</p><p>persuaded him that would be unwise. The king was unused to the</p><p>rigors of campaign and not skilled in arms, the Hand pointed out,</p><p>and it would be folly to risk losing him in battle so soon after the</p><p>tragedy of Summerhall. Jaehaerys �nally allowed himself to be</p><p>persuaded to remain at King’s Landing with his queen. Command of</p><p>the host was given to Lord Ormund, as King’s Hand.</p><p>In 260 AC, his lordship landed Targaryen armies upon three of</p><p>the Stepstones, and the War of the Ninepenny Kings turned bloody.</p><p>Battle raged across the islands and the channels between for most of</p><p>that year. Maester Eon’s Account of the War of the Ninepenny Kings,</p><p>one of the �nest works of its kind, is a splendid source for the</p><p>details of the �ghting, with its many battles on land and sea and</p><p>notable feats of arms. Lord Ormund Baratheon, the Westerosi</p><p>commander, was amongst the �rst to perish. Cut down by the hand</p><p>of Maelys the Monstrous, he died in the arms of his son and heir,</p><p>Ste�on Baratheon.</p><p>Command of the Targaryen host passed to the new young Lord</p><p>Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Gerold Hightower, the White</p><p>Bull. Hightower and his men were hard-pressed for a time, but as</p><p>the war hung in the balance, a young knight named Ser Barristan</p><p>Selmy slew Maelys in single combat, winning undying renown and</p><p>deciding the issue in a stroke, for the remainder of the Ninepenny</p><p>Kings had little or no interest in Westeros and soon fell back to their</p><p>own domains. Maelys the Monstrous was the �fth and last of the</p><p>Blackfyre Pretenders; with his death, the curse that Aegon the</p><p>Unworthy had in�icted on the Seven Kingdoms by giving his sword</p><p>to his bastard son was �nally ended.</p><p>Half a year of hard �ghting remained before the Stepstones and</p><p>the Disputed Lands were freed from the remaining Band of Nine,</p><p>and it would be six years before Alequo Adarys, the Tyrant of</p><p>Tyrosh, was poisoned by his queen and the Archon of Tyrosh was</p><p>restored. For the Seven Kingdoms, it had been a grand victory,</p><p>though not without cost in lives or su�ering.</p><p>The realm thereafter returned to peace. Though never strong,</p><p>Jaehaerys II proved to be a capable king, restoring order to the</p><p>Seven Kingdoms and reconciling many of the great houses who had</p><p>grown unhappy with the Iron Throne because</p><p>of King Aegon V’s</p><p>attempted reforms. But his reign proved to be a short one. In 262</p><p>AC, King Jaehaerys II sickened and died abed after a short illness,</p><p>complaining of a sudden shortness of breath. He was but thirty-</p><p>seven years of age at his passing, and had sat the Iron Throne for</p><p>scarce three years.</p><p>Ser Barristan Selmy and Maelys the Monstrous locked in combat. (illustration credit 80)</p><p>AERYS II</p><p>AERYS TARGARYEN, the Second of His Name, was but eighteen</p><p>years of age when he ascended the Iron Throne in 262 AC, upon the</p><p>death of his father, Jaehaerys, after little more than three years of</p><p>rule. A handsome youth, Aerys had fought gallantly in the</p><p>Stepstones during the War of the Ninepenny Kings. Though not the</p><p>most diligent of princes, nor the most intelligent, he had an</p><p>undeniable charm that won him many friends. He was also vain,</p><p>proud, and changeable, traits that made him easy prey for �atterers</p><p>and lickspittles, but these �aws were not immediately apparent to</p><p>most at the time of his ascension.</p><p>Not even the wisest could have known that Aerys II would in</p><p>time be known as the Mad King, nor that his reign would ultimately</p><p>put an end to near three centuries of Targaryen rule in Westeros.</p><p>Yet even as Aerys donned his crown, in that fateful year of 262 AC,</p><p>a lusty black-haired son named Robert had just been born to his</p><p>cousin Ste�on Baratheon and his lady wife at Storm’s End, whilst far</p><p>to the north at Winterfell, Lord Rickard Stark celebrated the birth of</p><p>his own son, Brandon. Another Stark, Eddard, followed within a</p><p>year. All three of these infants, would, in the fullness of time, play</p><p>crucial roles in the downfall of the dragons.</p><p>The new king had already provided the realm with an heir in the</p><p>person of his son Rhaegar, born amongst the �ames of Summerhall.</p><p>Aerys and his queen, his sister Rhaella, were young, and it was</p><p>anticipated that they would have many more children. This was a</p><p>vital question at the time, for the tragedies of Aegon the Unlikely’s</p><p>reign had trimmed the noble tree of House Targaryen down to just</p><p>a pair of lonely branches.</p><p>Aerys II did not lack for ambition. Upon his coronation, he</p><p>declared that it was his wish to be the greatest king in the history of</p><p>the Seven Kingdoms, a conceit certain of his friends encouraged by</p><p>suggesting that one day he might be remembered as Aerys the Wise</p><p>or even Aerys the Great.</p><p>His father’s court had been made up largely of older, seasoned</p><p>men, many of whom had also served during the reign of King Aegon</p><p>V. Aerys II dismissed them one and all, replacing them with lords of</p><p>his own generation. Most notably, he retired the aged and</p><p>exceedingly cautious Hand, Edgar Sloane, and named in his place</p><p>Ser Tywin Lannister, the heir to Casterly Rock. At twenty years of</p><p>age, Ser Tywin thus became the youngest Hand in the history of the</p><p>Seven Kingdoms. Many maesters to this day insist that his</p><p>appointment was the wisest thing that “Aerys the Wise” ever did.</p><p>Aerys and Tywin had known each other since childhood. As a</p><p>boy, Tywin Lannister had served as a royal page at King’s Landing.</p><p>He and Prince Aerys, together with a younger page, the prince’s</p><p>cousin Ste�on Baratheon of Storm’s End, had become inseparable.</p><p>During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, the three friends had</p><p>fought together, Tywin as a new-made knight, Ste�on and Prince</p><p>Aerys as squires. When Prince Aerys won his spurs at six-and-ten, it</p><p>was to Ser Tywin he granted the signal honor of dubbing him a</p><p>knight. In 261 AC, Tywin Lannister had proved his prowess as a</p><p>commander when he put down an uprising by two of his father’s</p><p>most powerful vassals, the Lords Tarbeck and Reyne, extinguishing</p><p>both of their ancient houses in the process. Though the brutality of</p><p>his methods drew censure from some, none could dispute that Ser</p><p>Tywin restored order to the westerlands after the chaos and con�ict</p><p>of his father’s rule.</p><p>Aerys Targaryen and Tywin Lannister made for an unlikely</p><p>partnership, it must be said. The young king was lively and active in</p><p>the early years of his reign. He loved music, dancing, and masked</p><p>balls, and was exceedingly fond of young women, �lling his court</p><p>with fair maidens from every corner of the realm. Some say he had</p><p>as many mistresses as his ancestor Aegon the Unworthy (a most</p><p>unlikely assertion given all we know of that monarch). Unlike</p><p>Aegon IV, however, Aerys II always seemed to lose interest in his</p><p>lovers quickly. Many lasted no longer than a fortnight and few as</p><p>long as half a year.</p><p>His Grace was full of grand schemes as well. Not long after his</p><p>coronation, he announced his intent to conquer the Stepstones and</p><p>make them a part of his realm for all time. In 264 AC, a visit to</p><p>King’s Landing by Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell awakened his</p><p>interest in the North, and he hatched a plan to build a new Wall a</p><p>hundred leagues north of the existing one and claim all the lands</p><p>between. In 265 AC, o�ended by “the stink of King’s Landing,” he</p><p>spoke of building a “white city” entirely of marble on the south</p><p>bank of the Blackwater Rush. In 267 AC, after a dispute with the</p><p>Iron Bank of Braavos regarding certain monies borrowed by his</p><p>father, he announced that he would build the largest war �eet in the</p><p>history of the world “to bring the Titan to his knees.” In 270 AC,</p><p>during a visit to Sunspear, he told the Princess of Dorne that he</p><p>would “make the Dornish deserts bloom” by digging a great</p><p>underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down</p><p>from the rainwood.</p><p>King Aerys, the Second of His Name. (illustration credit 81)</p><p>None of these grandiose plans ever came to fruition; most,</p><p>indeed, were forgotten within a moon’s turn, for Aerys II seemed to</p><p>grow bored with his royal enthusiasms as quickly as he did his royal</p><p>paramours. And yet the Seven Kingdoms prospered greatly during</p><p>the �rst decade of his reign, for the King’s Hand was all that the</p><p>king himself was not—diligent, decisive, tireless, �ercely</p><p>intelligent, just, and stern. “The gods made and shaped this man to</p><p>rule,” Grand Maester Pycelle wrote of Tywin Lannister in a letter to</p><p>the Citadel after serving with him on the small council for two</p><p>years.</p><p>And rule he did. As the king’s own behavior grew increasingly</p><p>erratic, more and more the day-to-day running of the realm fell to</p><p>his Hand. The realm prospered under Tywin Lannister’s stewardship</p><p>—so much so that King Aerys’s endless caprices did not seem so</p><p>portentous. Many Targaryens before him had exhibited similar</p><p>behavior without great cause for concern. From Oldtown to the</p><p>Wall, men began to say that Aerys might wear the crown, but it was</p><p>Tywin Lannister who ruled the realm.</p><p>It was Tywin Lannister who settled the crown’s dispute with the</p><p>Braavosi (though without “making the Titan kneel,” to the king’s</p><p>displeasure), by repaying the monies lent to Jaehaerys II with gold</p><p>from Casterly Rock, thereby taking the debts upon himself. Tywin</p><p>won the approbation of many great lords by repealing what</p><p>remained of the laws Aegon V had enacted to curb their powers.</p><p>Tywin reduced tari�s and taxes on shipping going in and out of the</p><p>cities of King’s Landing, Lannisport, and Oldtown, winning the</p><p>support of many wealthy merchants. Tywin built new roads and</p><p>repaired old ones, held many splendid tournaments about the realm</p><p>to the delight of knights and commons both, cultivated trade with</p><p>the Free Cities, and sternly punished bakers found guilty of adding</p><p>sawdust to their bread and butchers selling horsemeat as beef. In all</p><p>these e�orts he was greatly aided by Grand Maester Pycelle, whose</p><p>accounts of the reign of Aerys II give us our best portrait of these</p><p>times.</p><p>Yet despite these accomplishments, Tywin Lannister was little</p><p>loved. His rivals charged that he was humorless, unforgiving,</p><p>unbending, proud, and cruel. His lords bannermen respected him</p><p>and followed him loyally in war and peace, but none could truly be</p><p>named his friends. Tywin despised his father, the weak-willed, fat,</p><p>and ine�ectual Lord Tytos Lannister, and his relations with his</p><p>brothers Tygett and Gerion were notoriously stormy. He</p><p>showed</p><p>more regard for his brother Kevan, a close con�dant and constant</p><p>companion since childhood, and his sister Genna, but yet even in</p><p>those cases, Tywin Lannister appeared more dutiful than</p><p>a�ectionate.</p><p>In 263 AC, after a year as the King’s Hand, Ser Tywin married his</p><p>beautiful young cousin Joanna Lannister, who had come to King’s</p><p>Landing in 259 AC for the coronation of King Jaehaerys II and</p><p>remained thereafter as a lady-in-waiting to Princess (later Queen)</p><p>Rhaella. The bride and groom had known each other since they</p><p>were children together at Casterly Rock. Though Tywin Lannister</p><p>was not a man given to public display, it is said that his love for his</p><p>lady wife was deep and long-abiding. “Only Lady Joanna truly</p><p>knows the man beneath the armor,” Grand Maester Pycelle wrote</p><p>the Citadel, “and all his smiles belong to her and her alone. I do</p><p>avow that I have even observed her make him laugh, not once, but</p><p>upon three separate occasions!”</p><p>Sadly, the marriage between Aerys II Targaryen and his sister,</p><p>Rhaella, was not as happy; though she turned a blind eye to most of</p><p>the king’s in�delities, the queen did not approve of his “turning my</p><p>ladies into his whores.” (Joanna Lannister was not the �rst lady to</p><p>be dismissed abruptly from Her Grace’s service, nor was she the</p><p>last). Relations between the king and queen grew even more</p><p>strained when Rhaella proved unable to give Aerys any further</p><p>children. Miscarriages in 263 and 264 were followed by a stillborn</p><p>daughter born in 267. Prince Daeron, born in 269, survived for only</p><p>half a year. Then came another stillbirth in 270, another miscarriage</p><p>in 271, and Prince Aegon, born two turns premature in 272, dead in</p><p>273.</p><p>The scurrilous rumor that Joanna Lannister gave up her</p><p>maidenhead to Prince Aerys the night of his father’s</p><p>coronation and enjoyed a brief reign as his paramour after</p><p>he ascended the Iron Throne can safely be discounted. As</p><p>Pycelle insists in his letters, Tywin Lannister would scarce</p><p>have taken his cousin to wife if that had been true, “for he</p><p>was ever a proud man and not one accustomed to feasting</p><p>upon another man’s leavings.”</p><p>It has been reliably reported, however, that King Aerys</p><p>took unwonted liberties with Lady Joanna’s person during</p><p>her bedding ceremony, to Tywin’s displeasure. Not long</p><p>thereafter, Queen Rhaella dismissed Joanna Lannister from</p><p>her service. No reason for this was ever given, but Lady</p><p>Joanna departed at once for Casterly Rock and seldom</p><p>visited King’s Landing thereafter.</p><p>At �rst His Grace comforted Rhaella in her grief, but over time</p><p>his compassion turned to suspicion. By 270 AC, he had decided that</p><p>the queen was being unfaithful to him. “The gods will not su�er a</p><p>bastard to sit the Iron Throne,” he told his small council; none of</p><p>Rhaella’s stillbirths, miscarriages, or dead princes had been his, the</p><p>king proclaimed. Thereafter, he forbade the queen to leave the</p><p>con�nes of Maegor’s Holdfast and decreed that two septas would</p><p>henceforth share her bed every night, “to see that she remains true</p><p>to her vows.”</p><p>What Tywin Lannister made of this is not recorded, but in 266</p><p>AC, at Casterly Rock, Lady Joanna gave birth to a pair of twins, a</p><p>girl and a boy, “healthy and beautiful, with hair like beaten gold.”</p><p>This birth only exacerbated the tension between Aerys II Targaryen</p><p>and his Hand. “I appear to have married the wrong woman,” His</p><p>Grace was reported to have said, when informed of the happy</p><p>event. Nonetheless, he sent each child its weight in gold as a</p><p>nameday gift and commanded Tywin to bring them to court when</p><p>they were old enough to travel. “And bring their mother, too, for it</p><p>has been too long since I gazed upon that fair face,” he insisted.</p><p>The following year, 267 AC, saw the death of Lord Tytos</p><p>Lannister at the age of six-and-forty. Reportedly, his lordship’s heart</p><p>burst as he was climbing a steep turnpike stair to the bedchambers</p><p>of his mistress. With his passing, Ser Tywin Lannister became the</p><p>Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. When he returned</p><p>to the west to attend his father’s funeral and set the westerlands in</p><p>order, King Aerys decided to accompany him. Though His Grace left</p><p>the queen behind in King’s Landing (Her Grace was pregnant with</p><p>the child who proved to be the stillborn Princess Shaena), he took</p><p>their eight-year-old son Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone, and more</p><p>than half the court. For the better part of the next year, the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms were ruled from Lannisport and Casterly Rock, where</p><p>both the king and his Hand were in residence.</p><p>The court returned to King’s Landing in 268 AC, and governance</p><p>resumed as before … but it was plain to all that the friendship</p><p>between the king and his Hand was fraying. Where previously</p><p>Aerys had sided with Tywin Lannister on most matters of substance,</p><p>now the two men began to disagree. During a trade war between</p><p>the Free Cities of Myr and Tyrosh on the one hand and Volantis on</p><p>the other, Lord Tywin advocated a policy of neutrality; King Aerys</p><p>saw more advantage in providing gold and arms to the Volantenes.</p><p>When Lord Tywin adjudicated a border dispute between House</p><p>Blackwood and House Bracken in favor of the Blackwoods, His</p><p>Grace overruled him and gave the disputed mill to Lord Bracken.</p><p>Over his Hand’s strenuous objections, the king doubled the port</p><p>fees at King’s Landing and Oldtown, and tripled them for Lannisport</p><p>and the realm’s other ports and harbors. When a delegation of small</p><p>lords and rich merchants came before the Iron Throne to complain,</p><p>however, Aerys blamed the Hand for the exactions, saying, “Lord</p><p>Tywin shits gold, but of late he has been constipated and had to �nd</p><p>some other way to �ll our co�ers.” Whereupon His Grace restored</p><p>port fees and tari�s to their previous levels, earning much acclaim</p><p>for himself and leaving Tywin Lannister the opprobrium.</p><p>The growing rift between the king and the King’s Hand was also</p><p>apparent in the matter of appointments. Whereas previously His</p><p>Grace had always heeded his Hand’s counsel, bestowing o�ces,</p><p>honors, and inheritances as Lord Tywin recommended, after 270 AC</p><p>he began to disregard the men put forward by his lordship in favor</p><p>of his own choices. Many westermen found themselves dismissed</p><p>from the king’s service for no better cause than the suspicion that</p><p>they might be “Hand’s men.” In their places, King Aerys appointed</p><p>his own favorites … but the king’s favor had become a chancy</p><p>thing, his mistrust easy to awaken. Even the Hand’s own kin were</p><p>not exempt from royal displeasure. When Lord Tywin wished to</p><p>name his brother Ser Tygett Lannister as the Red Keep’s master-at-</p><p>arms, King Aerys gave the post to Ser Willem Darry instead.</p><p>Lord Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King. (illustration credit 82)</p><p>By this time, King Aerys had become aware of the widespread</p><p>belief that he himself was but a hollow �gurehead and Tywin</p><p>Lannister the true master of the Seven Kingdoms. These sentiments</p><p>greatly angered the king, and His Grace became determined to</p><p>disprove them and to humble his “overmighty servant” and “put</p><p>him back into his place.”</p><p>At the great Anniversary Tourney of 272 AC, held to</p><p>commemorate Aerys’s tenth year upon the Iron Throne, Joanna</p><p>Lannister brought her six-year-old twins Jaime and Cersei from</p><p>Casterly Rock to present before the court. The king (very much in</p><p>his cups) asked her if giving suck to them had “ruined your breasts,</p><p>which were so high and proud.” The question greatly amused Lord</p><p>Tywin’s rivals, who were always pleased to see the Hand slighted or</p><p>made mock of, but Lady Joanna was humiliated. Tywin Lannister</p><p>attempted to return his chain of o�ce the next morning, but the</p><p>king refused to accept his resignation.</p><p>Aerys II could, of course, have dismissed Tywin Lannister at any</p><p>time and named his own man as Hand of the King, but instead, for</p><p>whatever reason, the king chose to keep his boyhood friend close by</p><p>him, laboring on his behalf, even as he began to undermine him in</p><p>ways both great and small. Slights and gibes became ever more</p><p>numerous; courtiers hoping for advancement soon learned that the</p><p>quickest way to catch the king’s eye was by making mock of his</p><p>solemn, humorless Hand. Yet through all this, Tywin Lannister</p><p>su�ered in silence.</p><p>In 273 AC, however, Lady Joanna was taken to childbed once</p><p>again at Casterly Rock, where she died delivering Lord Tywin’s</p><p>second son. Tyrion, as the babe was named, was a malformed,</p><p>dwar�sh babe born with stunted legs, an oversized head, and</p><p>mismatched, demonic eyes (some reports also suggested he had a</p><p>tail, which was lopped o� at his lord father’s command). Lord</p><p>Tywin’s Doom, the smallfolk called this ill-made creature, and Lord</p><p>Tywin’s Bane. Upon hearing of his birth, King Aerys infamously</p><p>said, “The gods cannot abide such arrogance. They have plucked a</p><p>fair �ower from his hand and given him a monster in her place, to</p><p>teach him some humility at last.”</p><p>It was not long before reports of the king’s remarks reached Lord</p><p>Tywin as he grieved at Casterly Rock. Thereafter, no shred of the</p><p>old a�ection between the two men endured. Never a man to make a</p><p>show of his emotion, Lord Tywin continued on as Hand of the King,</p><p>dealing with the daily tedium of the Seven Kingdoms, while the</p><p>king grew ever more erratic, violent, and suspicious. Aerys began to</p><p>surround himself with informers, paying handsome rewards to men</p><p>of dubious repute for whispers, lies, and tales of treasons, real and</p><p>imagined. When one such reported that the captain of the Hand’s</p><p>personal guard, a knight named Ser Ilyn Payne, had been heard</p><p>boasting it was Lord Tywin who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms,</p><p>His Grace sent the Kingsguard to arrest the man and had his tongue</p><p>ripped out with red-hot pincers.</p><p>The march of the king’s madness seemed to abate for a time in</p><p>274 AC, when Queen Rhaella gave birth to a son. So profound was</p><p>His Grace’s joy that it seemed to restore him to his old self once</p><p>again…but Prince Jaehaerys died later that same year, plunging</p><p>Aerys into despair. In his black rage, he decided the babe’s wet</p><p>nurse was to blame and had the woman beheaded. Not long after, in</p><p>a change of heart, Aerys announced that Jaehaerys had been</p><p>poisoned by his own mistress, the pretty young daughter of one of</p><p>his household knights. The king had the girl and all her kin tortured</p><p>to death. During the course of their torment, it is recorded, all</p><p>confessed to the murder, though the details of their confessions</p><p>were greatly at odds.</p><p>Afterward, King Aerys fasted for a fortnight and made a walk of</p><p>repentance across the city to the Great Sept, to pray with the High</p><p>Septon. On his return, His Grace announced that henceforth he</p><p>would sleep only with his lawful wife, Queen Rhaella. If the</p><p>chronicles can be believed, Aerys remained true to this vow, losing</p><p>all interest in the charms of women from that day in 275 AC.</p><p>His Grace’s new �delity was apparently pleasing to the Mother</p><p>Above, it must be said, for the following year, Queen Rhaella gave</p><p>the king the second son that he had prayed for. Prince Viserys, born</p><p>in 276 AC, was small but robust, and as beautiful a child as King’s</p><p>Landing had ever seen. Though Prince Rhaegar at seventeen was</p><p>everything that could be wanted in an heir apparent, all Westeros</p><p>rejoiced to know that at last he had a brother, another Targaryen to</p><p>secure the succession.</p><p>The birth of Prince Viserys only seemed to make Aerys II more</p><p>fearful and obsessive, however. Though the new young princeling</p><p>seemed healthy enough, the king was terri�ed lest he su�er the</p><p>same fate as his brothers. Kingsguard knights were commanded to</p><p>stand over him night and day to see that no one touched the boy</p><p>without the king’s leave. Even the queen herself was forbidden to</p><p>be alone with the infant. When her milk dried up, Aerys insisted on</p><p>having his own food taster suckle at the teats of the prince’s wet</p><p>nurse, to ascertain that the woman had not smeared poison on her</p><p>nipples. As gifts for the young prince arrived from all the lords of</p><p>the Seven Kingdoms, the king had them piled in the yard and</p><p>burned, for fear that some of them might have been ensorcelled or</p><p>cursed.</p><p>Later that same year, Lord Tywin Lannister, perhaps unwisely,</p><p>held a great tournament at Lannisport in honor of Viserys’s birth.</p><p>Mayhaps it was meant to be a gesture toward reconciliation. There</p><p>the wealth and power of House Lannister was displayed for all the</p><p>realm to see. King Aerys at �rst refused to attend, then relented,</p><p>but the queen and her new son were kept under con�nement back</p><p>at King’s Landing.</p><p>There, seated on his throne amongst hundreds of notables in the</p><p>shadow of Casterly Rock, the king cheered lustily as his son Prince</p><p>Rhaegar, newly knighted, unhorsed both Tygett and Gerion</p><p>Lannister, and even overcame the gallant Ser Barristan Selmy,</p><p>before falling in the champion’s tilt to the renowned Kingsguard</p><p>knight Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.</p><p>Perhaps seeking to gain advantage of His Grace’s high spirits,</p><p>Lord Tywin chose that very night to suggest that it was past time</p><p>the king’s heir wed and produced an heir of his own; he proposed</p><p>his own daughter, Cersei, as wife for the crown prince. Aerys II</p><p>rejected this proposal brusquely, informing Lord Tywin that he was</p><p>a good and valuable servant, yet a servant nonetheless. Nor did His</p><p>Grace agree to appoint Lord Tywin’s son Jaime as squire to Prince</p><p>Rhaegar; that honor he granted instead to the sons of several of his</p><p>own favorites, men known to be no friends of House Lannister or</p><p>the Hand.</p><p>By this time it was plain to see that Aerys II Targaryen was</p><p>already sliding rapidly into madness, but it was in the year 277 AC</p><p>that His Grace plunged irrevocably into the abyss, with the De�ance</p><p>of Duskendale.</p><p>The ancient harbor town of Duskendale had been a seat of kings</p><p>of old, in the days of the Hundred Kingdoms. Once the most</p><p>important port on Blackwater Bay, the town had seen its trade</p><p>dwindle and its wealth shrink as King’s Landing grew and</p><p>burgeoned, a decline that its young lord, Denys Darklyn, wished to</p><p>halt. Many have long debated why Lord Darklyn chose to do what</p><p>he did, but most agree that his Myrish wife, the Lady Serala, played</p><p>some part. Her detractors blame her entirely for what transpired;</p><p>the Lace Serpent, as they name her, poisoned Lord Darklyn against</p><p>his king with her pillow talk. Her defenders insist that the folly lay</p><p>with Lord Denys himself; his wife is hated simply because she was a</p><p>woman of foreign birth who prayed to gods alien to Westeros.</p><p>It was Lord Denys’s desire to win a charter for Duskendale that</p><p>would give it more autonomy from the crown, much as had been</p><p>done for Dorne many years before, that began the trouble. This did</p><p>not seem to him such a vast demand; such charters were common</p><p>across the narrow sea, as Lady Serala most certainly had told him.</p><p>Yet it was understandable that Lord Tywin, as Hand, �rmly rejected</p><p>his proposals, for fear it might set a dangerous precedent. Infuriated</p><p>at the refusal, Lord Darklyn then devised a new plan to win his</p><p>charter (and with it, lower port fees and tari�s to allow Duskendale</p><p>once more to vie for trade with King’s Landing)—a plan that was</p><p>pure folly.</p><p>The De�ance of Duskendale began quietly enough. Lord Denys,</p><p>seeing that Aerys’s erratic behavior had begun to strain his relations</p><p>with Lord Tywin, refused to pay the taxes expected of him and</p><p>instead invited the king to come to Duskendale and hear his</p><p>petition. It seems most unlikely that King Aerys would ever have</p><p>considered accepting this invitation…until Lord Tywin advised him</p><p>to refuse in the strongest possible terms, whereupon the king</p><p>decided to accept, informing Grand Maester Pycelle and the small</p><p>council that he meant to settle this matter himself and bring the</p><p>de�ant Darklyn to heel.</p><p>Against Lord Tywin’s advice, the king traveled to Duskendale</p><p>with a small escort led by Ser Gwayne Gaunt of the Kingsguard. The</p><p>invitation proved to be a trap, however—and one that the</p><p>Targaryen king walked into blindly. He was seized with his escort,</p><p>and some of the men—most notably Ser Gwayne—were killed while</p><p>attempting to defend their king.</p><p>The immediate response</p><p>to the news from Duskendale was shock,</p><p>then outrage. There were those who urged a sudden assault upon</p><p>the town to free the king and punish the rebels for this enormity.</p><p>But Duskendale was surrounded by strong walls, and the Dun Fort,</p><p>the ancient seat of House Darklyn, which overlooked the harbor,</p><p>was even more formidable. Taking it by storm would be no easy</p><p>task.</p><p>Lord Tywin thus sent out riders and ravens, gathering forces</p><p>while commanding the Darklyns to give up the king. Lord Denys</p><p>instead sent word that, if any attempt was made to break his walls,</p><p>he would put His Grace to death. Some in the small council</p><p>questioned this, declaring that no son of Westeros would ever dare</p><p>commit such a heinous crime, but Lord Tywin would not chance it.</p><p>Instead, with a sizable host, he moved to surround Duskendale,</p><p>blockading it by land and by sea.</p><p>With a royal host massed outside of his walls and his supply</p><p>chain cut o�, Lord Darklyn’s determination began to falter. He</p><p>made several e�orts to parley, but Lord Tywin refused to hear him,</p><p>instead repeating his demand for the complete and unconditional</p><p>surrender of the town and castle and the release of the king.</p><p>The blockade of Duskendale. (illustration credit 83)</p><p>The De�ance lasted for half a year. Within the walls of</p><p>Duskendale, the mood soon began to sour as the stores and larders</p><p>ran dry. Yet, huddled within the ancient Dun Fort, Lord Denys was</p><p>convinced that it was only a matter of time before Lord Tywin</p><p>would weaken and o�er better terms.</p><p>Those who knew the resolve of Tywin Lannister knew better.</p><p>Instead, the Hand’s heart grew harder, and he sent Duskendale’s</p><p>lord one �nal demand for surrender. Should he refuse again, Lord</p><p>Tywin promised, he would take the town by storm and put every</p><p>man, woman, and child within to the sword. (The tale, oft told, that</p><p>Lord Tywin sent his bard to deliver the ultimatum, and commanded</p><p>him to sing “The Rains of Castamere” for Lord Denys and the Lace</p><p>Serpent is a colorful detail that is, alas, unsupported by the records).</p><p>Most of the small council were with the Hand outside Duskendale</p><p>at this juncture, and several of them argued against Lord Tywin’s</p><p>plan on the grounds that such an attack would almost certainly goad</p><p>Lord Darklyn into putting King Aerys to death. “He may or he may</p><p>not,” Tywin Lannister reportedly replied, “but if he does, we have a</p><p>better king right here.” Whereupon he raised a hand to indicate</p><p>Prince Rhaegar.</p><p>Scholars have debated ever since as to Lord Tywin’s intent. Did</p><p>he believe Lord Darklyn would back down? Or was he, in truth,</p><p>willing, and perhaps even eager, to see Aerys die so that Prince</p><p>Rhaegar might take the Iron Throne?</p><p>None will ever know for certain, thanks to the courage of Ser</p><p>Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard. Ser Barristan o�ered to enter the</p><p>town in secret, �nd his way to the Dun Fort, and spirit the king to</p><p>safety. Selmy had been known as Barristan the Bold since his youth,</p><p>but this was a boldness that Tywin Lannister felt bordered on</p><p>madness. Yet such was his respect for the prowess and courage of</p><p>Ser Barristan that he gave him a day to attempt his plan before</p><p>storming Duskendale.</p><p>The songs of Ser Barristan’s daring rescue of the king are many,</p><p>and, for a rarity, the singers hardly had to embroider it. Ser</p><p>Barristan did indeed scale the walls unseen in the dark of the night,</p><p>using nothing but his bare hands, and he did disguise himself as a</p><p>hooded beggar as he made his way to the Dun Fort. It is true, as</p><p>well, that he managed to scale the walls of the Dun Fort in turn,</p><p>killing a guard on the wallwalk before he could raise the alarm.</p><p>Then, by stealth and courage, he found his way to the dungeon</p><p>where the king was being kept. By the time he had Aerys Targaryen</p><p>out of the dungeon, however, the king’s absence had been noted,</p><p>and the hue and cry went up. And then the true breadth of Ser</p><p>Barristan’s heroism was revealed, for he stood and fought rather</p><p>than surrender himself or his king.</p><p>And not only did he �ght, but he struck �rst, taking Lord</p><p>Darklyn’s good-brother and master-at-arms, Ser Symon Hollard, and</p><p>a pair of guards unawares, slaying them all—and so avenging the</p><p>death of his Sworn Brother, Ser Gwayne Gaunt of the Kingsguard,</p><p>who had been killed at Hollard’s hand. He hurried with the king to</p><p>the stables, �ghting his way through those who tried to intervene,</p><p>and the two were able to ride out of Dun Fort before the castle’s</p><p>gates could be closed. Then there was the wild ride through the</p><p>streets of Duskendale, while horns and trumpets sounded the alarm,</p><p>and the race up to the walls as Lord Tywin’s archers attempted to</p><p>clear it of defenders.</p><p>With the king escaped and safe, there was nothing left for Lord</p><p>Darklyn save surrender, but it is doubtful he knew the terrible</p><p>revenge that the king intended. When Darklyn and his family were</p><p>presented to him in chains, Aerys demanded their deaths—and not</p><p>only Darklyn’s immediate kin but his uncles and aunts and even</p><p>distant kinsmen in Duskendale. Even his good-kin, the Hollards,</p><p>were attainted and destroyed. Only Ser Symon’s young nephew,</p><p>Dontos Hollard, was spared—and only then because Ser Barristan</p><p>begged that mercy as a boon, and the king he had saved could not</p><p>refuse him. As to Lady Serala, hers was a crueler death. Aerys had</p><p>the Lace Serpent’s tongue and her womanly parts torn out before</p><p>she was burned alive (yet her enemies say that she should have</p><p>su�ered more and worse for the ruin she brought down upon the</p><p>town).</p><p>Captivity at Duskendale had shattered whatever sanity had</p><p>remained to Aerys II Targaryen. From that day forth, the king’s</p><p>madness reigned unchecked, growing worse with every passing</p><p>year. The Darklyns had dared lay hands upon his person, shoving</p><p>him roughly, stripping him of his royal raiment, even daring to</p><p>strike him. After his release, King Aerys would no longer allow</p><p>himself to be touched, even by his own servants. Uncut and</p><p>unwashed, his hair grew ever longer and more tangled, whilst his</p><p>�ngernails lengthened and thickened into grotesque yellow talons.</p><p>He forbade any blade in his presence save for the swords carried by</p><p>the knights of his Kingsguard, sworn to protect him. His judgments</p><p>became ever harsher and crueler.</p><p>Once safely returned to King’s Landing, His Grace refused to</p><p>leave the Red Keep for any cause and remained a virtual prisoner in</p><p>his own castle for the next four years, during which time he grew</p><p>ever more wary of those around him, Tywin Lannister in particular.</p><p>His suspicions extended even to his own son and heir. Prince</p><p>Rhaegar, he was convinced, had conspired with Tywin Lannister to</p><p>have him slain at Duskendale. They had planned to storm the town</p><p>walls so that Lord Darklyn would put him to death, opening the</p><p>way for Rhaegar to mount the Iron Throne and marry Lord Tywin’s</p><p>daughter.</p><p>Determined to prevent that from happening, King Aerys turned</p><p>to another friend of his childhood, summoning Ste�on Baratheon</p><p>from Storm’s End and naming him to the small council. In 278 AC,</p><p>the king sent Lord Ste�on across the narrow sea on a mission to Old</p><p>Volantis, to seek a suitable bride for Prince Rhaegar, “a maid of</p><p>noble birth from an old Valyrian bloodline.” That His Grace</p><p>entrusted this task to the Lord of Storm’s End rather than his Hand,</p><p>or Rhaegar himself, speaks volumes. The rumors were rife that</p><p>Aerys meant to make Lord Ste�on his new Hand upon the successful</p><p>completion of this mission, that Tywin Lannister was about to be</p><p>removed from o�ce, arrested, and tried for high treason. And there</p><p>was many a lord who took delight in that prospect.</p><p>The gods had other notions, however. Ste�on Baratheon’s</p><p>mission ended in failure, and on his return from Volantis, his ship</p><p>foundered and sank in Shipbreaker Bay, within sight of Storm’s End.</p><p>Lord Ste�on and his wife were both drowned as their two elder sons</p><p>watched from the castle walls. When word of their deaths reached</p><p>King’s Landing, King Aerys �ew into a rage and told Grand Maester</p><p>Pycelle that Tywin Lannister had somehow divined his royal</p><p>intentions and arranged</p><p>for Lord Baratheon’s murder. “If I dismiss</p><p>him as Hand, he will kill me, too,” the king told the grand maester.</p><p>In the years that followed, the king’s madness deepened. Though</p><p>Tywin Lannister continued as Hand, Aerys no longer met with him</p><p>save in the presence of all seven Kingsguard. Convinced that the</p><p>smallfolk and lords were plotting against his life and fearing that</p><p>even Queen Rhaella and Prince Rhaegar might be part of these</p><p>plots, he reached across the narrow sea to Pentos and imported a</p><p>eunuch named Varys to serve as his spymaster, reasoning that only</p><p>a man without friends, family, or ties in Westeros could be relied</p><p>upon for the truth. The Spider, as he soon became known to the</p><p>smallfolk of his realm, used the crown’s gold to create a vast web of</p><p>informers. For the rest of Aerys’s reign, he would crouch at the</p><p>king’s side, whispering in his ear.</p><p>In the wake of Duskendale, the king also began to display signs</p><p>of an ever-increasing obsession with dragon�re, similar to that</p><p>which had haunted several of his forebears. Lord Darklyn would</p><p>never have dared defy him if he had been a dragonrider, Aerys</p><p>reasoned. His attempts to bring forth dragons from eggs found in</p><p>the depths of Dragonstone (some so old that they had turned to</p><p>stone) yielded naught, however.</p><p>Frustrated, Aerys turned to the Wisdoms of the ancient Guild of</p><p>Alchemists, who knew the secret of producing the volatile jade</p><p>green substance known as wild�re, said to be a close cousin to</p><p>dragon�ame. The pyromancers became a regular �xture at his court</p><p>as the king’s fascination with �re grew. By 280 AC, Aerys II had</p><p>taken to burning traitors, murderers, and plotters, rather than</p><p>hanging or beheading them. The king seemed to take great pleasure</p><p>in these �ery executions, which were presided over by Wisdom</p><p>Rossart, the grand master of the Guild of Alchemists…so much so</p><p>that he granted Rossart the title of Lord and gave him a seat upon</p><p>the small council.</p><p>His Grace’s growing madness had become unmistakable by that</p><p>time. From Dorne to the Wall, men had begun to refer to Aerys II as</p><p>the Mad King. In King’s Landing, he was called King Scab, for the</p><p>many times he had cut himself upon the Iron Throne. Yet with</p><p>Varys the Spider and his whisperers listening, it had become very</p><p>dangerous to voice any of these sentiments aloud.</p><p>Meanwhile, King Aerys was becoming ever more estranged from</p><p>his own son and heir. Early in the year 279 AC, Rhaegar Targaryen,</p><p>Prince of Dragonstone, was formally betrothed to Princess Elia</p><p>Martell, the delicate young sister of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne.</p><p>They were wed the following year, in a lavish ceremony at the</p><p>Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing, but Aerys II did not attend.</p><p>He told the small council that he feared an attempt upon his life if</p><p>he left the con�nes of the Red Keep, even with his Kingsguard to</p><p>protect him. Nor would he allow his younger son, Viserys, to attend</p><p>his brother’s wedding.</p><p>When Prince Rhaegar and his new wife chose to take up</p><p>residence on Dragonstone instead of the Red Keep, rumors �ew</p><p>thick and fast across the Seven Kingdoms. Some claimed that the</p><p>crown prince was planning to depose his father and seize the Iron</p><p>Throne for himself, whilst others said that King Aerys meant to</p><p>disinherit Rhaegar and name Viserys heir in his place. Nor did the</p><p>birth of King Aerys’s �rst grandchild, a girl named Rhaenys, born on</p><p>Dragonstone in 280 AC, do aught to reconcile father and son. When</p><p>Prince Rhaegar returned to the Red Keep to present his daughter to</p><p>his own mother and father, Queen Rhaella embraced the babe</p><p>warmly, but King Aerys refused to touch or hold the child and</p><p>complained that she “smells Dornish.”</p><p>Amidst all this, Lord Tywin Lannister continued to serve as Hand</p><p>of the King. “Lord Tywin looms as large as Casterly Rock,” wrote</p><p>Grand Maester Pycelle, “and no king has ever had so diligent or</p><p>capable a Hand.” Seemingly secure in his o�ce after the death of</p><p>Ste�on Baratheon, Lord Tywin even went so far as to bring his</p><p>beautiful young daughter, Cersei, to court.</p><p>In 281 AC, however, the aged Kingsguard knight Ser Harlan</p><p>Grandison passed away in his sleep, and the uneasy accord between</p><p>Aerys II and his Hand �nally snapped, when His Grace chose to</p><p>o�er a white cloak to Lord Tywin’s eldest son.</p><p>At �ve-and-ten, Ser Jaime Lannister was already a knight—an</p><p>honor he had received from the hand of Ser Arthur Dayne, the</p><p>Sword of the Morning, whom many considered to be the realm’s</p><p>most chivalrous warrior. Jaime’s knighthood had been won during</p><p>Ser Arthur’s campaign against the outlaws known as the Kingswood</p><p>Brotherhood, and none could doubt his prowess.</p><p>King Aerys II condemns the Darklyns. (illustration credit 84)</p><p>Ser Jaime was also Lord Tywin’s heir, however, and carried all</p><p>his hopes for the perpetuation of House Lannister, as his lordship’s</p><p>other son was the malformed dwarf, Tyrion. Moreover, the Hand</p><p>had been in the midst of negotiating an advantageous marriage pact</p><p>for Ser Jaime when the king informed him of his choice. At a</p><p>stroke, King Aerys had deprived Lord Tywin of his chosen heir and</p><p>made him look foolish and false.</p><p>Yet Grand Maester Pycelle tells us that when Aerys II announced</p><p>Ser Jaime’s appointment from the Iron Throne, his lordship went to</p><p>one knee and thanked the king for the great honor shown to his</p><p>house. Then, pleading illness, Lord Tywin asked the king’s leave to</p><p>retire as Hand.</p><p>King Aerys was delighted to oblige him. Lord Tywin accordingly</p><p>surrendered his chain of o�ce and retired from court, returning to</p><p>Casterly Rock with his daughter. The king replaced him as Hand</p><p>with Lord Owen Merryweather, an aged and amiable lickspittle</p><p>famed for laughing loudest at every jape and witticism uttered by</p><p>the king, no matter how feeble.</p><p>Henceforth, His Grace told Pycelle, the realm would know for a</p><p>certainty that the man who wore the crown also ruled the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms.</p><p>Aerys Targaryen and Tywin Lannister had met as boys, had</p><p>fought and bled together in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and</p><p>had ruled the Seven Kingdoms together for close to twenty years,</p><p>but in 281 AC this long partnership, which had proved so fruitful to</p><p>the realm, came to a bitter end.</p><p>Shortly thereafter, Lord Walter Whent announced plans for a</p><p>great tourney to be held at his seat at Harrenhal, to celebrate his</p><p>maiden daughter’s nameday. King Aerys II chose this event for the</p><p>formal investiture of Ser Jaime Lannister as a knight of the</p><p>Kingsguard…thus setting in motion the events that would end the</p><p>Mad King’s reign and write an end to the long rule of House</p><p>Targaryen in the Seven Kingdoms.</p><p>Prince Rhaegar presenting the crown of winter roses to Lyanna Stark. (illustration credit 85)</p><p>THE YEAR of the FALSE SPRING</p><p>IN THE ANNALS of Westeros, 281 AC is known as the Year of the</p><p>False Spring. Winter had held the land in its icy grip for close on</p><p>two years, but now at last the snows were melting, the woods were</p><p>greening, the days were growing longer. Though the white ravens</p><p>had not yet �own, there were many even at the Citadel of Oldtown</p><p>who believed that winter’s end was nigh.</p><p>As warm winds blew from the south, lords and knights from</p><p>throughout the Seven Kingdoms made their way toward Harrenhal</p><p>to compete in Lord Whent’s great tournament on the shore of the</p><p>Gods Eye, which promised to be the largest and most magni�cent</p><p>competition since the time of Aegon the Unlikely.</p><p>We know a great deal about that tourney, for the things that</p><p>transpired beneath the walls of Harrenhal were set down by a score</p><p>of chroniclers and recorded in many a letter and testament. Yet</p><p>there is much and more that we shall never know, for even whilst</p><p>the greatest knights of the Seven Kingdoms vied in the lists, other</p><p>and more dangerous games were being played in the halls of Black</p><p>Harren’s accursed castle and the tents and pavilions of the lords</p><p>assembled.</p><p>Many tales have grown up around Lord Whent’s tournament:</p><p>tales of plots and conspiracies, betrayals and rebellions, in�delities</p><p>and assignations, secrets and mysteries, almost all of</p><p>it conjecture.</p><p>The truth is known only to a few, some of whom have long passed</p><p>beyond this mortal vale and must forever hold their tongues. In</p><p>writing of this fateful gathering, therefore, the conscientious scholar</p><p>must take care to separate fact from fancy, to draw a sharp line</p><p>between what is known and what is simply suspected, believed, or</p><p>rumored.</p><p>This is known: The tourney was �rst announced by Walter</p><p>Whent, Lord of Harrenhal, late in the year 280 AC, not long after a</p><p>visit from his younger brother, Ser Oswell Whent, a knight of the</p><p>Kingsguard. That this would be an event of unrivaled magni�cence</p><p>was clear from the �rst, for Lord Whent was o�ering prizes thrice</p><p>as large as those given at the great Lannisport tourney of 272 AC,</p><p>hosted by Lord Tywin Lannister in celebration of Aerys II’s tenth</p><p>year upon the Iron Throne.</p><p>Most took this simply as an attempt by Whent to outdo the</p><p>former Hand and demonstrate the wealth and splendor of his house.</p><p>There were those, however, who believed this no more than a ruse,</p><p>and Lord Whent no more than a catspaw. His lordship lacked the</p><p>funds to pay such muni�cent prizes, they argued; someone else</p><p>must surely have stood behind him, someone who did not lack for</p><p>gold but preferred to remain in the shadows whilst allowing the</p><p>Lord of Harrenhal to claim the glory for hosting this magni�cent</p><p>event. We have no shred of evidence that such a “shadow host” ever</p><p>existed, but the notion was widely believed at the time and remains</p><p>so today.</p><p>But if indeed there was a shadow, who was he, and why did he</p><p>choose to keep his role a secret? A dozen names have been put</p><p>forward over the years, but only one seems truly compelling:</p><p>Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone.</p><p>If this tale be believed, ’twas Prince Rhaegar who urged Lord</p><p>Walter to hold the tourney, using his lordship’s brother Ser Oswell</p><p>as a go-between. Rhaegar provided Whent with gold su�cient for</p><p>splendid prizes in order to bring as many lords and knights to</p><p>Harrenhal as possible. The prince, it is said, had no interest in the</p><p>tourney as a tourney; his intent was to gather the great lords of the</p><p>realm together in what amounted to an informal Great Council, in</p><p>order to discuss ways and means of dealing with the madness of his</p><p>father, King Aerys II, possibly by means of a regency or a forced</p><p>abdication.</p><p>If indeed this was the purpose behind the tourney, it was a</p><p>perilous game that Rhaegar Targaryen was playing. Though few</p><p>doubted that Aerys had taken leave of his senses, many still had</p><p>good reason to oppose his removal from the Iron Throne, for certain</p><p>courtiers and councillors had gained great wealth and power</p><p>through the king’s caprice and knew that they stood to lose all</p><p>should Prince Rhaegar come to power.</p><p>The Mad King could be savagely cruel, as seen most plainly when</p><p>he burned those he perceived to be his enemies, but he could also</p><p>be extravagant, showering men who pleased him with honors,</p><p>o�ces, and lands. The lickspittle lords who surrounded Aerys II had</p><p>gained much and more from the king’s madness and eagerly seized</p><p>upon any opportunity to speak ill of Prince Rhaegar and in�ame the</p><p>father’s suspicions of the son.</p><p>Chief amongst the Mad King’s supporters were three lords of his</p><p>small council: Qarlton Chelsted, master of coin, Lucerys Velaryon,</p><p>master of ships, and Symond Staunton, master of laws. The eunuch</p><p>Varys, master of whisperers, and Wisdom Rossart, grand master of</p><p>the Guild of Alchemists, also enjoyed the king’s trust. Prince</p><p>Rhaegar’s support came from the younger men at court, including</p><p>Lord Jon Connington, Ser Myles Mooton of Maidenpool, and Ser</p><p>Richard Lonmouth. The Dornishmen who had come to court with</p><p>the Princess Elia were in the prince’s con�dence as well,</p><p>particularly Prince Lewyn Martell, Elia’s uncle and a Sworn Brother</p><p>of the Kingsguard. But the most formidable of all Rhaegar’s friends</p><p>and allies in King’s Landing was surely Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword</p><p>of the Morning.</p><p>To Grand Maester Pycelle and Lord Owen Merryweather, the</p><p>King’s Hand, fell the unenviable task of keeping peace between</p><p>these factions, even as their rivalry grew ever more venomous. In a</p><p>letter to the Citadel, Pycelle wrote that the divisions within the Red</p><p>Keep reminded him uncomfortably of the situation before the Dance</p><p>of the Dragons a century before, when the enmity between Queen</p><p>Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra had split the realm in two, to</p><p>grievous cost. A similarly bloody con�ict might await the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms once again, he warned, unless some accord could be</p><p>reached that would satisfy both Prince Rhaegar’s supporters and the</p><p>king’s.</p><p>Had any whi� of proof come into their hands to show that Prince</p><p>Rhaegar was conspiring against his father, King Aerys’s loyalists</p><p>would most certainly have used it to bring about the prince’s</p><p>downfall. Indeed, certain of the king’s men had even gone so far as</p><p>to suggest that Aerys should disinherit his “disloyal” son, and name</p><p>his younger brother heir to the Iron Throne in his stead. Prince</p><p>Viserys was but seven years of age, and his eventual ascension</p><p>would certainly mean a regency, wherein they themselves would</p><p>rule as regents.</p><p>In such a climate, it was scarce surprising that Lord Whent’s great</p><p>tournament excited much suspicion. Lord Chelsted urged His Grace</p><p>to forbid it, and Lord Staunton went even further, suggesting a</p><p>prohibition against all tourneys.</p><p>Such events were widely popular with the commons, however,</p><p>and when Lord Merryweather warned Aerys that forbidding the</p><p>tournament would only serve to make him even more unpopular,</p><p>the king chose another course and announced his intention to</p><p>attend. It would mark the �rst time that Aerys II had left the safety</p><p>of the Red Keep since the De�ance of Duskendale. No doubt His</p><p>Grace reasoned that his enemies would not dare conspire against</p><p>him under his very nose. Grand Maester Pycelle tells us that Aerys</p><p>hoped that his presence at such a grand event would help him win</p><p>back the love of his people.</p><p>If that was indeed the king’s intent, it was a grievous</p><p>miscalculation. Whilst his attendance made the Harrenhal tourney</p><p>even grander and more prestigious than it already was, drawing</p><p>lords and knights from every corner of the realm, many of those</p><p>who came were shocked and appalled when they saw what had</p><p>become of their monarch. His long yellow �ngernails, tangled</p><p>beard, and ropes of unwashed, matted hair made the extent of the</p><p>king’s madness plain to all. Nor was his behavior that of a sane</p><p>man, for Aerys could go from mirth to melancholy in the blink of an</p><p>eye, and many of the accounts written of Harrenhal speak of his</p><p>hysterical laughter, long silences, bouts of weeping, and sudden</p><p>rages.</p><p>Above all, King Aerys II was suspicious: suspicious of his own son</p><p>and heir, Prince Rhaegar; suspicious of his host, Lord Whent;</p><p>suspicious of every lord and knight who had come to Harrenhal to</p><p>compete…and even more suspicious of those who chose to absent</p><p>themselves, the most notable of whom was his former Hand, Tywin</p><p>Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock.</p><p>At the tourney’s opening ceremonies, King Aerys made a great</p><p>public show of Ser Jaime Lannister’s investiture as a Sworn Brother</p><p>of his Kingsguard. The young knight said his vows before the royal</p><p>pavilion, kneeling on the green grass in his white armor as half the</p><p>lords of the realm looked on. When Ser Gerold Hightower raised</p><p>him up and clasped his white cloak about his shoulders, a roar went</p><p>up from the crowd, for Ser Jaime was much admired for his</p><p>courage, gallantry, and prowess with a sword, especially in the</p><p>westerlands.</p><p>The Mad King, Aerys II. (illustration credit 86)</p><p>Though Tywin Lannister did not himself deign to attend the</p><p>tourney at Harrenhal, dozens of his lords bannermen and hundreds</p><p>of knights were on hand, and they raised a loud and lusty cheer for</p><p>the newest and youngest Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard. The king</p><p>was pleased. In his madness, we are told, His Grace believed that</p><p>they were cheering for him.</p><p>Scarce had the thing been done, however, than King Aerys II</p><p>began to nurse</p><p>name. It was he who, according to the oldest histories of</p><p>the Ghiscari, founded the lockstep legions with their tall shields and</p><p>three spears, which were the �rst to �ght as disciplined bodies. Old</p><p>Ghis and its army proceeded to colonize its surroundings, then,</p><p>pressing on, to subjugate its neighbors. Thus was the �rst empire</p><p>born, and for centuries it reigned supreme.</p><p>It was on the great peninsula across from Slaver’s Bay that those</p><p>who brought an end to the empire of Old Ghis—though not to all of</p><p>their ways—originated. Sheltered there, amidst the great volcanic</p><p>mountains known as the Fourteen Flames, were the Valyrians, who</p><p>learned to tame dragons and make them the most fearsome weapon</p><p>of war that the world ever saw. The tales the Valyrians told of</p><p>themselves claimed they were descended from dragons and were</p><p>kin to the ones they now controlled.</p><p>In such fragments of Barth’s Unnatural History as remain,</p><p>the septon appears to have considered various legends</p><p>examining the origins of dragons and how they came to be</p><p>controlled by the Valyrians. The Valyrians themselves</p><p>claimed that dragons sprang forth as the children of the</p><p>Fourteen Flames, while in Qarth the tales state that there</p><p>was once a second moon in the sky. One day this moon</p><p>was scalded by the sun and cracked like an egg, and a</p><p>million dragons poured forth. In Asshai, the tales are many</p><p>and confused, but certain texts—all impossibly ancient—</p><p>claim that dragons �rst came from the Shadow, a place</p><p>where all of our learning fails us. These Asshai’i histories</p><p>say that a people so ancient they had no name �rst tamed</p><p>dragons in the Shadow and brought them to Valyria,</p><p>teaching the Valyrians their arts before departing from the</p><p>annals.</p><p>Yet if men in the Shadow had tamed dragons �rst, why</p><p>did they not conquer as the Valyrians did? It seems likelier</p><p>that the Valyrian tale is the truest. But there were dragons</p><p>in Westeros, once, long before the Targaryens came, as our</p><p>own legends and histories tell us. If dragons did �rst spring</p><p>from the Fourteen Flames, they must have been spread</p><p>across much of the known world before they were tamed.</p><p>And, in fact, there is evidence for this, as dragon bones</p><p>have been found as far north as Ib, and even in the jungles</p><p>of Sothoryos. But the Valyrians harnessed and subjugated</p><p>them as no one else could.</p><p>The great beauty of the Valyrians—with their hair of palest silver</p><p>or gold and eyes in shades of purple not found amongst any other</p><p>peoples of the world—is well-known, and often held up as proof</p><p>that the Valyrians are not entirely of the same blood as other men.</p><p>Yet there are maesters who point out that, by careful breeding of</p><p>animals, one can achieve a desirable result, and that populations in</p><p>isolation can often show quite remarkable variations from what</p><p>might be regarded as common. This may be a likelier answer to the</p><p>mystery of the Valyrian origins although it does not explain the</p><p>a�nity with dragons that those with the blood of Valyria clearly</p><p>had.</p><p>The Valyrians had no kings but instead called themselves the</p><p>Freehold because all the citizenry who held land had a voice.</p><p>Archons might be chosen to help lead, but they were elected by the</p><p>lords freeholder from amongst their number, and only for a limited</p><p>time. It was rare for Valyria to be swayed by one freeholding family</p><p>alone although it was not entirely unknown either.</p><p>The �ve great wars between the Freehold and Old Ghis when the</p><p>world was young are the stu� of legend—con�agrations that ended</p><p>each time in the victory of the Valyrians over the Ghiscari. It was</p><p>during the �fth and �nal war that the Freehold chose to make sure</p><p>there would be no sixth war. The ancient brick walls of Old Ghis,</p><p>�rst erected by Grazdan the Great in ancient days, were razed. The</p><p>colossal pyramids and temples and homes were given over to</p><p>dragon�ame. The �elds were sown with salt, lime, and skulls. Many</p><p>of the Ghiscari were slain, and still others were enslaved and died</p><p>laboring for their conquerors. Thus the Ghiscari became but another</p><p>part of the new Valyrian empire, and in time they forgot the tongue</p><p>that Grazdan spoke, learning instead High Valyrian. So do empires</p><p>end and others arise.</p><p>What now remains of the once-proud empire of Old Ghis is</p><p>a paltry thing—a few cities clinging like sores to Slaver’s</p><p>Bay and another that pretends to be Old Ghis come again.</p><p>For after the Doom came to Valyria, the cities of Slaver’s</p><p>Bay were able to throw o� the last of the Valyrian</p><p>shackles, ruling themselves in truth rather than playing at</p><p>it. And what remained of the Ghiscari swiftly reestablished</p><p>their trade in slaves—though where once they won them</p><p>by conquest, now they purchased and bred them.</p><p>“Bricks and blood built Astapor, and bricks and blood</p><p>her people,” an old rhyme says, referring to the red-</p><p>bricked walls of the city and of the blood shed by the</p><p>thousands of slaves who would live, labor, and die</p><p>constructing them. Ruled by men who name themselves</p><p>the Good Masters, Astapor is best known for the creation</p><p>of the eunuch slave-soldiers called the Unsullied—men</p><p>raised from boyhood to be fearless warriors who feel no</p><p>pain. The Astapori pretend that they are the lockstep</p><p>legions of the Old Empire come again, but those men were</p><p>free, and the Unsullied are not.</p><p>Of Yunkai, the yellow city, little needs be said, for it is a</p><p>most disreputable place. The men who rule it, calling</p><p>themselves the Wise Masters, are steeped in corruption,</p><p>selling bed slaves and boy-whores and worse.</p><p>The most formidable of the cities along Slaver’s Bay is</p><p>ancient Meereen, but like the rest, it is a crumbling place,</p><p>its population a fraction of what it once supported at the</p><p>height of the Old Empire. Its walls of many-colored bricks</p><p>contain endless su�ering, for the Great Masters of Meereen</p><p>train slaves to �ght and die at their pleasure in the blood-</p><p>soaked �ghting pits.</p><p>All three cities have been known to pay tribute to</p><p>passing khalasars rather than face them in open battle, but</p><p>the Dothraki provide many of the slaves that the Ghiscari</p><p>train and sell—slaves taken from their conquests and sold</p><p>in the �esh marts of Meereen, Yunkai, and Astapor.</p><p>The most vital of the Ghiscari cities is also the smallest</p><p>and the newest, and no less a pretender to greatness: New</p><p>Ghis, left to its own devices on its isle. There, its masters</p><p>have formed iron legions in mimicry of the legions of the</p><p>Old Empire, but unlike the Unsullied, these are free men,</p><p>as the soldiers of the Old Empire were.</p><p>The fall of Old Ghis. (illustration credit 17)</p><p>VALYRIA’S CHILDREN</p><p>THE VALYRIANS LEARNED one deplorable thing from the Ghiscari:</p><p>slavery. The Ghiscari whom they conquered were the �rst to be</p><p>thus enslaved, but not the last. The burning mountains of the</p><p>Fourteen Flames were rich with ore, and the Valyrians hungered for</p><p>it: copper and tin for the bronze of their weapons and monuments;</p><p>later iron for the steel of their legendary blades; and always gold</p><p>and silver to pay for it all.</p><p>The properties of Valyrian steel are well-known, and are</p><p>the result of both folding iron many times to balance and</p><p>remove impurities, and the use of spells—or at least arts</p><p>we do not know—to give unnatural strength to the</p><p>resulting steel. Those arts are now lost, though the smiths</p><p>of Qohor claim to still know magics for reworking Valyrian</p><p>steel without losing its strength or unsurpassed ability to</p><p>hold an edge. The Valyrian steel blades that remain in the</p><p>world might number in the thousands, but in the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms there are only 227 such weapons according to</p><p>Archmaester Thurgood’s Inventories, some of which have</p><p>since been lost or have disappeared from the annals of</p><p>history.</p><p>None can say how many perished, toiling in the Valyrian mines,</p><p>but the number was so large as to surely defy comprehension. As</p><p>Valyria grew, its need for ore increased, which led to ever more</p><p>conquests to keep the mines stocked with slaves. The Valyrians</p><p>expanded in all directions, stretching out east beyond the Ghiscari</p><p>cities and west to the very shores of Essos, where even the Ghiscari</p><p>grave doubts about his new protector. The king had</p><p>seized upon the notion of bringing Ser Jaime into his Kingsguard as</p><p>a way of humbling his old friend, Grand Maester Pycelle tells us.</p><p>Only now, belatedly, did His Grace come to the realization that he</p><p>would henceforth have Lord Tywin’s son beside him day and</p><p>night…with a sword at his side.</p><p>The thought frightened him so badly that he could hardly eat at</p><p>that night’s feast, Pycelle avows. Accordingly, Aerys II summoned</p><p>Ser Jaime to attend him (whilst squatting over his chamberpot,</p><p>some say, but this ugly detail may have been a later addition to the</p><p>tale), and commanded him to return to King’s Landing to guard and</p><p>protect Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys, who had not</p><p>accompanied His Grace to the tourney. The lord commander, Ser</p><p>Gerold Hightower, o�ered to go in Ser Jaime’s stead, but Aerys</p><p>refused him.</p><p>For the young knight, who had no doubt hoped to distinguish</p><p>himself in the tourney, this abrupt exile came as a bitter</p><p>disappointment. Nonetheless, Ser Jaime remained true to his vows.</p><p>He set o� for the Red Keep at once and played no further part in the</p><p>events at Harrenhal…save perhaps in the mind of the Mad King.</p><p>For seven days the �nest knights and noblest lords of the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms contended with lance and sword in the �elds beneath the</p><p>towering walls of Harrenhal. At night, victors and vanquished alike</p><p>repaired to the castle’s cavernous Hall of a Hundred Hearths, for</p><p>feasting and celebration. Many songs and stories are told of those</p><p>days and nights beside the Gods Eye. Some are even true. To</p><p>recount every joust and jape is far outside our purpose here. That</p><p>task we gladly leave to the singers. Two incidents must not be</p><p>passed over, however, for they would prove to have grave</p><p>consequences.</p><p>The �rst was the appearance of a mystery knight, a slight young</p><p>man in ill-�tting armor whose device was a carved white weirwood</p><p>tree, its features twisted in mirth. The Knight of the Laughing Tree,</p><p>as this challenger was called, unhorsed three men in successive tilts,</p><p>to the delight of the commons.</p><p>King Aerys II was not a man to take any joy in mysteries,</p><p>however. His Grace became convinced that the tree on the mystery</p><p>knight’s shield was laughing at him, and—with no more proof than</p><p>that—decided that the mystery knight was Ser Jaime Lannister. His</p><p>newest Kingsguard had de�ed him and returned to the tourney, he</p><p>told every man who would listen.</p><p>Furious, he commanded his own knights to defeat the Knight of</p><p>the Laughing Tree when the jousts resumed the next morning, so</p><p>that he might be unmasked and his per�dy exposed for all to see.</p><p>But the mystery knight vanished during the night, never to be seen</p><p>again. This too the king took ill, certain that someone close to him</p><p>had given warning to “this traitor who will not show his face.”</p><p>Prince Rhaegar emerged as the ultimate victor at the end of the</p><p>competition. The crown prince, who did not normally compete in</p><p>tourneys, surprised all by donning his armor and defeating every</p><p>foe he faced, including four knights of the Kingsguard. In the �nal</p><p>tilt, he unhorsed Ser Barristan Selmy, generally regarded as the</p><p>�nest lance in all the Seven Kingdoms, to win the champion’s</p><p>laurels.</p><p>The cheers of the crowd were said to be deafening, but King</p><p>Aerys did not join them. Far from being proud and pleased by his</p><p>heir’s skill at arms, His Grace saw it as a threat. Lords Chelsted and</p><p>Staunton in�amed his suspicions further, declaring that Prince</p><p>Rhaegar had entered the lists to curry favor with the commons and</p><p>remind the assembled lords that he was a puissant warrior, a true</p><p>heir to Aegon the Conqueror.</p><p>And when the triumphant Prince of Dragonstone named Lyanna</p><p>Stark, daughter of the Lord of Winterfell, the queen of love and</p><p>beauty, placing a garland of blue roses in her lap with the tip of his</p><p>lance, the lickspittle lords gathered around the king declared that</p><p>further proof of his per�dy. Why would the prince have thus given</p><p>insult to his own wife, the Princess Elia Martell of Dorne (who was</p><p>present), unless it was to help him gain the Iron Throne? The</p><p>crowning of the Stark girl, who was by all reports a wild and boyish</p><p>young thing with none of the Princess Elia’s delicate beauty, could</p><p>only have been meant to win the allegiance of Winterfell to Prince</p><p>Rhaegar’s cause, Symond Staunton suggested to the king.</p><p>Yet if this were true, why did Lady Lyanna’s brothers seem so</p><p>distraught at the honor the prince had bestowed upon her? Brandon</p><p>Stark, the heir to Winterfell, had to be restrained from confronting</p><p>Rhaegar at what he took as a slight upon his sister’s honor, for</p><p>Lyanna Stark had long been betrothed to Robert Baratheon, Lord of</p><p>Storm’s End. Eddard Stark, Brandon’s younger brother and a close</p><p>friend to Lord Robert, was calmer but no more pleased. As for</p><p>Robert Baratheon himself, some say he laughed at the prince’s</p><p>gesture, claiming that Rhaegar had done no more than pay Lyanna</p><p>her due … but those who knew him better say the young lord</p><p>brooded on the insult, and that his heart hardened toward the</p><p>Prince of Dragonstone from that day forth.</p><p>And well it might, for with that simple garland of pale blue roses,</p><p>Rhaegar Targaryen had begun the dance that would rip the Seven</p><p>Kingdoms apart, bring about his own death and thousands more,</p><p>and put a welcome new king upon the Iron Throne.</p><p>The False Spring of 281 AC lasted less than two turns. As the year</p><p>drew to a close, winter returned to Westeros with a vengeance. On</p><p>the last day of the year, snow began to fall upon King’s Landing,</p><p>and a crust of ice formed atop the Blackwater Rush. The snowfall</p><p>continued o� and on for the best part of a fortnight, by which time</p><p>the Blackwater was hard frozen, and icicles draped the roofs and</p><p>gutters of every tower in the city.</p><p>As cold winds hammered the city, King Aerys II turned to his</p><p>pyromancers, charging them to drive the winter o� with their</p><p>magics. Huge green �res burned along the walls of the Red Keep for</p><p>a moon’s turn. Prince Rhaegar was not in the city to observe them,</p><p>however. Nor could he be found in Dragonstone with Princess Elia</p><p>and their young son, Aegon. With the coming of the new year, the</p><p>crown prince had taken to the road with half a dozen of his closest</p><p>friends and con�dants, on a journey that would ultimately lead him</p><p>back to the riverlands. Not ten leagues from Harrenhal, Rhaegar fell</p><p>upon Lyanna Stark of Winterfell, and carried her o�, lighting a �re</p><p>that would consume his house and kin and all those he loved—and</p><p>half the realm besides.</p><p>Rhaegar Targaryen, the Prince of Dragonstone. (illustration credit 87)</p><p>But that tale is too well-known to warrant repeating here.</p><p>ROBERT’S REBELLION</p><p>WHAT FOLLOWED PRINCE Rhaegar’s infamous abduction of</p><p>Lyanna Stark was the ruin of House Targaryen. The full depth of</p><p>King Aerys’s madness was subsequently revealed in his depraved</p><p>actions against Lord Stark, his heir, and their supporters after they</p><p>demanded redress for Rhaegar’s wrongs. Instead of granting them</p><p>fair hearing, King Aerys had them brutally slain, then followed</p><p>these murders by demanding that Lord Jon Arryn execute his</p><p>former wards, Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. Many now agree</p><p>that the true start of Robert’s Rebellion began with Lord Arryn’s</p><p>refusal and his courageous calling of his banners in the defense of</p><p>justice. Yet not all the lords of the Vale agreed with Lord Jon’s</p><p>decision, and soon �ghting broke out as loyalists to the crown</p><p>attempted to bring Lord Arryn down.</p><p>The �ghting then spread across the Seven Kingdoms like wild�re,</p><p>as lords and knights took sides. Many alive today fought in these</p><p>battles, and so can speak with greater knowledge of them than I,</p><p>who was not there. I therefore leave it to such men to write the true</p><p>and detailed history of Robert’s Rebellion; far be it for me to o�end</p><p>those who yet live by presenting an imperfect summary of events,</p><p>or mistakenly praising those who have since proved unworthy. So</p><p>instead, I will look only to the lord and knight who ascended the</p><p>Iron Throne at the</p><p>had not made inroads.</p><p>It was this �rst bursting forth of the new empire that was of</p><p>paramount importance to Westeros and the future Seven Kingdoms.</p><p>As Valyria sought to conquer more and more lands and peoples,</p><p>some �ed for safety, retreating before the Valyrian tide. On the</p><p>shores of Essos, the Valyrians raised cities, which we know today as</p><p>the Free Cities. Their origins were diverse.</p><p>Qohor and Norvos were founded following religious schisms.</p><p>Others, such as Old Volantis and Lys, were trading colonies �rst and</p><p>foremost, founded by wealthy merchants and nobles who purchased</p><p>the right to rule themselves as clients of the Freehold rather than</p><p>subjects. These cities chose their own leaders rather than receiving</p><p>archons dispatched from Valyria (often on dragonback) to oversee</p><p>them. It is claimed in some histories that Pentos and Lorath were of</p><p>a third type—cities already extant before the Valyrians came whose</p><p>rulers paid homage to Valyria and thus retained their right to native</p><p>rule. In these cities, what in�ux of Valyrian blood there was came</p><p>from migrants from the Freehold, or political marriages used to</p><p>better bind these cities to Valyria. Yet most of the histories that</p><p>recount this take as their source Gessio Haratis’s Before the Dragons.</p><p>Haratis was himself from Pentos, and at the time, Volantis was</p><p>threatening to restore the Valyrian empire under its control, so the</p><p>notion of an independent Pentos with origins distinct from Valyria</p><p>was a most politic convenience.</p><p>However, it is clear that Braavos is unique among all the Free</p><p>Cities, as it was founded not by the will of the Freehold, nor by its</p><p>citizens, but instead by its slaves. According to the tales of the</p><p>Braavosi, a huge slaver �eet that had been out collecting tributes in</p><p>human �esh from the lands of the Summer and Jade Seas became</p><p>victim to a slave uprising instead; the success of this uprising was</p><p>doubtless dependent on the fact that the Valyrians were wont to use</p><p>slaves as oarsmen and even sailors, and that these men then joined</p><p>the uprising. Seizing control of the �eet but realizing there was no</p><p>place nearby to hide from the Freehold, the slaves instead elected to</p><p>seek out some land far from Valyria and its subjects, and founded</p><p>their own city in hiding. Legend says that the moonsingers</p><p>prophesied that the �eet must travel far north to a forlorn corner of</p><p>Essos—a place of mud�ats and brackish water and fogs. There, the</p><p>slaves �rst laid the foundation of their city.</p><p>For centuries, the Braavosi remained hidden from the world in</p><p>their remote lagoon. And even after it unveiled itself, Braavos</p><p>continued to be known as the Secret City. The Braavosi were a</p><p>people who were no people: scores of races, a hundred tongues, and</p><p>hundreds of gods. All they had in common was the Valyrian that</p><p>formed the common trade language of Essos—and the fact that they</p><p>were now free where once they had been slaves. The moonsingers</p><p>were honored for leading them to their city, but the wisest among</p><p>the freed slaves determined that, to unify themselves, they must</p><p>accept all the gods the slaves had brought with them, holding none</p><p>higher than any other.</p><p>The �res of the Fourteen Flames coursing through Valyria, fuel for the pyromancer’s magic.</p><p>(illustration credit 18)</p><p>In short, the names and numbers of the peoples who fell to</p><p>Valyria are unknown to us today. What records the Valyrians kept</p><p>of their conquests were largely destroyed by the Doom, and few if</p><p>any of these peoples documented their own histories in a way that</p><p>survived the Freehold’s dominion.</p><p>A few, such as the Rhoynar, lasted against the tide for centuries,</p><p>or even millennia. The Rhoynar, who founded great cities along the</p><p>Rhoyne, were said to be the �rst to learn the art of iron-making.</p><p>Also, the confederation of cities later called the Kingdom of Sarnor</p><p>survived the Valyrian expansion thanks to the great plain that</p><p>separated one from the other…only for that plain and the people</p><p>who occupied it—the Dothraki horselords—to be the source of</p><p>Sarnor’s downfall after the Doom.</p><p>Of the history of Valyria as it is known today, many</p><p>volumes have been written over the centuries, and the</p><p>details of their conquests, their colonizations, the feuds of</p><p>the dragonlords, the gods they worshipped, and more</p><p>could �ll libraries and still not be complete. Galendro’s The</p><p>Fires of the Freehold is widely considered the most de�nitive</p><p>history, and even there the Citadel lacks twenty-seven of</p><p>the scrolls.</p><p>And those who would not be slaves but were unable to withstand</p><p>the might of Valyria �ed. Many failed and are forgotten. But one</p><p>people, tall and fair-haired, made courageous and indomitable by</p><p>their faith, succeeded in their escape from Valyria. And those men</p><p>are the Andals.</p><p>THE ARRIVAL OF THE ANDALS</p><p>THE ANDALS ORIGINATED in the lands of the Axe, east and north</p><p>of where Pentos now lies, though they were for many centuries a</p><p>migratory people who did not remain in one place for long. From</p><p>the heartlands of the Axe—a great spur of land surrounded on all</p><p>sides by the Shivering Sea—they traveled south and west to carve</p><p>out Andalos: the ancient realm the Andals ruled before they crossed</p><p>the narrow sea.</p><p>Andalos stretched from the Axe to what is now the Braavosian</p><p>Coastlands, and south as far as the Flatlands and the Velvet Hills.</p><p>The Andals brought iron weapons with them and suits of iron plates,</p><p>against which the tribes that inhabited those lands could do little.</p><p>One such tribe was the hairy men; their name is lost, but they are</p><p>still remembered in certain Pentoshi histories. (The Pentoshi believe</p><p>them to be akin to the men of Ib, and the histories of the Citadel</p><p>largely agree, though some argue that the hairy men settled Ib, and</p><p>others that the hairy men came �rst from Ib.)</p><p>The fact that the Andals forged iron has been taken by some as</p><p>proof that the Seven guided them—that the Smith himself taught</p><p>them this art—and so do the holy texts teach. But the Rhoynar were</p><p>already an advanced civilization at this time, and they too knew of</p><p>iron, so it takes only the study of a map to realize that the earliest</p><p>Andals must have had contact with the Rhoynar. The Darkwash and</p><p>the Noyne lay directly in the path of the Andals’ migration, and</p><p>there are remnants of Rhoynish outposts in Andalos, according to</p><p>the Norvoshi historian Doro Golathis. And it would not be the �rst</p><p>time that men learned of the working of iron from the Rhoynar; it is</p><p>said that the Valyrians learned the art from them as well, although</p><p>the Valyrians eventually surpassed them.</p><p>For thousands of years the Andals abided in Andalos, growing in</p><p>number. In the oldest of the holy books, The Seven-Pointed Star, it is</p><p>said that the Seven themselves walked among their people in the</p><p>hills of Andalos, and it was they who crowned Hugor of the Hill and</p><p>promised him and his descendants great kingdoms in a foreign land.</p><p>This is what the septons and septas teach as the reason why the</p><p>Andals left Essos and struck west to Westeros, but the history that</p><p>the Citadel has uncovered over the centuries may provide a better</p><p>reason.</p><p>Andal adventurers in the Vale, with the Mountains of the Moon in the distance. (illustration</p><p>credit 19)</p><p>An old legend told in Pentos claims that the Andals slew</p><p>the swan maidens who lured travelers to their deaths in the</p><p>Velvet Hills that lie to the east of the Free City. A hero</p><p>whom the Pentoshi singers call Hukko led the Andals at</p><p>that time, and it is said that he slew the seven maids not</p><p>for their crimes but instead as sacri�ce to his gods. There</p><p>are some maesters who have noted that Hukko may well</p><p>be a rendering of the name of Hugor. But even more so</p><p>than in the Seven Kingdoms, ancient legends from the east</p><p>must be distrusted. Too many peoples have traveled back</p><p>and forth, and too many legends and tales have mingled.</p><p>For a few centuries, as the Andals prospered in the Hills of</p><p>Andalos, they were left more or less to themselves. But with the fall</p><p>of Old Ghis came the great surge of conquest and colonization from</p><p>the Freehold of Valyria, as they</p><p>expanded their domains and sought</p><p>more slaves. At �rst, the Rhoyne and the Rhoynar served as a</p><p>bu�er. By the time the Valyrians reached that great river, they</p><p>found it di�cult to make a crossing in force. The dragonlords might</p><p>not be troubled, but the foot- and horsemen found it daunting in the</p><p>face of Rhoynish resistance, given that the Rhoynish were by now</p><p>as powerful as Ghis at its height. There was a truce for years</p><p>between the Valyrians and the Rhoynar, but it only protected the</p><p>Andals so far.</p><p>At the mouth of the Rhoyne, the Valyrians founded the �rst of</p><p>their colonies. There, Volantis was raised by some of the wealthiest</p><p>men of the Freehold in order to gather up the wealth that �owed</p><p>down the Rhoyne, and from Volantis their conquering forces crossed</p><p>the river in great strength. The Andals might have fought against</p><p>them at �rst, and the Rhoynar might even have aided them, but the</p><p>tide was unstoppable. So it is likely the Andals chose to �ee rather</p><p>than face the inevitable slavery that came with Valyrian conquest.</p><p>They retreated to the Axe—the lands from which they had sprung—</p><p>and when that did not protect them, they retreated farther north</p><p>and west until they came to the sea. Some might have given up</p><p>there and surrendered to their fate, and others still might have</p><p>made their last stand, but many and more made ships and sailed in</p><p>great numbers across the narrow sea to the lands of the First Men in</p><p>Westeros.</p><p>The Valyrians had denied the Andals the promise of the Seven on</p><p>Essos, but in Westeros they were free. Made zealous by the con�ict</p><p>and �ight, the warriors of the Andals carved the seven-pointed star</p><p>upon their bodies and swore by their blood and the Seven not to</p><p>rest until they had hewn their kingdoms from the Sunset Lands.</p><p>Their success gave Westeros a new name: Rhaesh Andahli—the Land</p><p>of the Andals, as the Dothraki now name it.</p><p>It’s agreed by the septons, the singers, and the maesters alike</p><p>that the �rst place where the Andals landed was on the Fingers in</p><p>the Vale of Arryn. Carvings of the seven-pointed star are scattered</p><p>upon the rocks and stones throughout that area—a practice that</p><p>eventually fell out of use as the Andal conquests progressed.</p><p>Sweeping through the Vale with �re and sword, the Andals began</p><p>their conquest of Westeros. Their iron weapons and armor surpassed</p><p>the bronze with which the First Men still fought, and many First</p><p>Men perished in this war. It was a war—or a series of many wars—</p><p>which likely lasted for decades. Eventually some of the First Men</p><p>submitted, and, as I noted earlier, there are still houses in the Vale</p><p>who proudly proclaim their descent from the First Men, such as the</p><p>Redforts and the Royces.</p><p>The singers say that the Andal hero Ser Artys Arryn rode upon a</p><p>falcon to slay the Gri�on King upon the Giant’s Lance, thereby</p><p>founding the kingly line of House Arryn. This is foolishness,</p><p>however, a corruption of the true history of the Arryns with legends</p><p>out of the Age of Heroes. Instead, the Arryn kings supplanted the</p><p>High Kings of House Royce.</p><p>When the Vale was secured, the Andals turned their attention to</p><p>the rest of Westeros and poured forth through the Bloody Gate. In</p><p>the wars that followed, Andal adventurers carved out small</p><p>kingdoms from the old realms of the First Men and fought one</p><p>another as often as they fought their enemies.</p><p>In the wars over the Trident, it’s said that as many as seven</p><p>Andal kings joined forces against the last true King of the Rivers</p><p>and Hills, Tristifer the Fourth, who was descended from the First</p><p>Men, and defeated him in what the singers claim was his hundredth</p><p>battle. His heir, Tristifer the Fifth, proved unable to defend his</p><p>father’s legacy, and so the kingdom fell to the Andals.</p><p>In this same era one Andal, remembered in legend as Erreg the</p><p>Kinslayer, came across the great hill of High Heart. There, while</p><p>under the protection of the kings of the First Men, the children of</p><p>the forest had tended to the mighty carved weirwoods that crowned</p><p>it (thirty-one, according to Archmaester Laurent in his manuscript</p><p>Old Places of the Trident). When Erreg’s warriors sought to cut down</p><p>the trees, the First Men are said to have fought beside the children,</p><p>but the might of the Andals was too great. Though the children and</p><p>First Men made a valiant e�ort to defend their holy grove, all were</p><p>slain. The tale-tellers now claim that the ghosts of the children still</p><p>haunt the hill by night. To this day, rivermen shun the place.</p><p>The clans of the Mountains of the Moon are clearly</p><p>descendants of the First Men who did not bend the knee to</p><p>the Andals and so were driven into the mountains.</p><p>Furthermore, there are similarities in their customs to the</p><p>customs of the wildlings beyond the Wall—such as bride-</p><p>stealing, a stubborn desire to rule themselves, and the like</p><p>—and the wildlings are indisputably descended from the</p><p>First Men.</p><p>As with the First Men before them, the Andals proved bitter</p><p>enemies to the remaining children. To their eyes, the children</p><p>worshipped strange gods and had strange customs, and so the</p><p>Andals drove them out of all the deep woods the Pact had once</p><p>given them. Weakened and grown insular over the years, the</p><p>children lacked whatever advantages they had once had over the</p><p>First Men. And what the First Men could never succeed in doing—</p><p>eradicating the children entirely—the Andals managed to achieve in</p><p>short order. Some few children may have �ed to the Neck, where</p><p>there was safety amidst the bogs and crannogs, but if they did, no</p><p>trace of them remains. It is possible that a few survived on the Isle</p><p>of Faces, as some have written, under the protection of the green</p><p>men, whom the Andals never succeeded in destroying. But again, no</p><p>de�nitive proof has ever been found.</p><p>Regardless, the few children remaining �ed or died, and the First</p><p>Men found themselves losing war after war, and kingdom after</p><p>kingdom, to the Andal invaders. The battles and wars were endless,</p><p>but eventually all the southron kingdoms fell. As with the Valemen,</p><p>some submitted to the Andals, even taking up the faith of the Seven.</p><p>In many cases, the Andals took the wives and daughters of the</p><p>defeated kings to wife, as a means of solidifying their right to rule.</p><p>For, despite everything, the First Men were far more numerous than</p><p>the Andals and could not simply be forced aside. The fact that many</p><p>southron castles still have godswoods with carved weirwoods at</p><p>their hearts is said to be thanks to the early Andal kings, who</p><p>shifted from conquest to consolidation, thus avoiding any con�ict</p><p>based on di�ering faiths.</p><p>The slaughter of the children of the forest by the Andal warrior, Erreg the Kinslayer.</p><p>(illustration credit 20)</p><p>Even the ironborn—the �erce, sea-roving warriors who must</p><p>have at �rst thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the</p><p>wave of Andal conquest. For though it took a thousand years for the</p><p>Andals to turn their attention to the Iron Islands, when they did,</p><p>they did so with renewed zeal. The Andals swept over the islands,</p><p>extinguishing the line of Urron Redhand, which had ruled by axe</p><p>and sword for a thousand years.</p><p>The Rhoynar facing the might of the Freehold. (illustration credit 21)</p><p>Haereg writes that, at �rst, the new Andal kings sought to force</p><p>worship of the Seven on the ironborn, but the ironborn would not</p><p>have it. Instead they allowed it to coexist with their worship of the</p><p>Drowned God. As on the mainland, the Andals married the wives</p><p>and daughters of the ironborn and had children by them. But unlike</p><p>on the mainland, the Faith never took root; more, it did not hold</p><p>�rm even among the families of Andal blood. In time, only the</p><p>Drowned God came to rule over the Iron Islands, with only a few</p><p>houses remembering the Seven.</p><p>It was the North and the North alone that was able to keep the</p><p>Andals at bay, thanks to the impenetrable swamps of the Neck and</p><p>the ancient keep of Moat Cailin. The number of Andal armies that</p><p>were destroyed in the Neck cannot be easily reckoned, and so the</p><p>Kings of Winter preserved their independent rule for many centuries</p><p>to come.</p><p>TEN THOUSAND SHIPS</p><p>THE LAST OF the great migrations into Westeros happened long</p><p>after the coming of the First Men and the Andals. Once the Ghiscari</p><p>wars had ended, the dragonlords of Valyria turned their gaze</p><p>toward the west, where the growth of Valyrian power brought the</p><p>Freehold and its colonies into con�ict with the peoples of the</p><p>Rhoyne.</p><p>The mightiest river in the world, the Rhoyne’s many tributaries</p><p>stretched across much of western Essos. Along their banks had</p><p>arisen a civilization and culture as storied and ancient as the Old</p><p>Empire of Ghis. The Rhoynar had grown rich o� the bounty of their</p><p>river; Mother Rhoyne, they named her.</p><p>Fishers, traders, teachers, scholars, workers in wood and stone</p><p>and metal, they raised their elegant towns and cities from the</p><p>headwaters of the Rhoyne down to her mouth, each lovelier than</p><p>the last. There was Ghoyan Drohe in the Velvet Hills, with its</p><p>groves and waterfalls; Ny Sar, the city of fountains, alive with song;</p><p>Ar Noy on the Qhoyne, with its halls of green marble; pale Sar Mell</p><p>of the �owers; sea-girt Sarhoy with its canals and saltwater gardens;</p><p>and Chroyane, greatest of all, the festival city with its great Palace</p><p>of Love.</p><p>Art and music �ourished in the cities of the Rhoyne, and it is said</p><p>their people had their own magic—a water magic very di�erent</p><p>from the sorceries of Valyria, which were woven of blood and �re.</p><p>Though united by blood and culture and the river that had given</p><p>them birth, the Rhoynish cities were elsewise �ercely independent,</p><p>each with its own prince … or princess, for amongst these river</p><p>folk, women were regarded as the equals of men.</p><p>By and large a peaceful people, the Rhoynar could be formidable</p><p>when roused to wroth, as many a would-be Andal conqueror learned</p><p>to his sorrow. The Rhoynish warrior with his silver-scaled armor,</p><p>�sh-head helm, tall spear, and turtle-shell shield was esteemed and</p><p>feared by all those who faced him in battle. It was said the Mother</p><p>Rhoyne herself whispered to her children of every threat, that the</p><p>Rhoynar princes wielded strange, uncanny powers, that Rhoynish</p><p>women fought as �ercely as Rhoynish men, and that their cities</p><p>were protected by “watery walls” that would rise to drown any foe.</p><p>For many centuries the Rhoynar lived in peace. Though many a</p><p>savage people dwelt in the hills and forests around Mother Rhoyne,</p><p>all knew better than to molest the river folk. And the Rhoynar</p><p>themselves showed little interest in expansion; the river was their</p><p>home, their mother, and their god, and few of them wished to dwell</p><p>beyond the sound of her eternal song.</p><p>When adventurers, exiles, and traders from the Freehold of</p><p>Valyria began to expand beyond the Lands of the Long Summer in</p><p>the centuries after the fall of the Old Empire of Ghis, the Rhoynish</p><p>princes embraced them at �rst, and their priests declared that all</p><p>men were welcome to share the bounty of Mother Rhoyne.</p><p>As those �rst Valyrian outposts grew into towns, and those towns</p><p>into cities, however, some Rhoynar came to regret the forbearance</p><p>of their fathers. Amity gave way to enmity, particularly upon the</p><p>lower river, where the ancient city of Sar Mell and the walled</p><p>Valyrian town Volon Therys faced each other across the waters, and</p><p>on the shores of the Summer Sea, where the Free City of Volantis</p><p>soon rivaled the storied port of Sarhoy, each of them commanding</p><p>one of Mother Rhoyne’s four mouths.</p><p>Disputes between the citizens of the rival cities became ever</p><p>more common and ever more rancorous, �nally giving birth to a</p><p>series of short but bloody wars. Sar Mell and Volon Therys were the</p><p>�rst cities to meet in battle. Legend claims that the clash began</p><p>when the Valyrians netted and butchered one of the gigantic turtles</p><p>the Rhoynar called the Old Men of the River and held sacred as the</p><p>consorts of Mother Rhoyne herself. The First Turtle War lasted less</p><p>than a moon’s turn. Sar Mell was raided and burned, yet emerged</p><p>victorious when Rhoynish water wizards called up the power of the</p><p>river and �ooded Volon Therys. Half the city was washed away, if</p><p>the tales can be believed.</p><p>Other wars followed, however: the War of Three Princes, the</p><p>Second Turtle War, the Fisherman’s War, the Salt War, the Third</p><p>Turtle War, the War on Dagger Lake, the Spice War, and many</p><p>more, too numerous to recount here. Cities and towns were burned,</p><p>drowned, and rebuilt. Thousands were killed or enslaved. In these</p><p>con�icts, the Valyrians emerged as victors more oft than not. The</p><p>princes of the Rhoyne, �ercely proud of their independence, fought</p><p>alone, whilst the Valyrian colonies aided one another, and when</p><p>hard-pressed, called upon the power of the Freehold itself.</p><p>Beldecar’s History of the Rhoynish Wars is without equal in describing</p><p>these con�icts, which stretched over the best part of two and a half</p><p>centuries.</p><p>This series of con�icts reached a bloody climax a thousand years</p><p>ago in the Second Spice War, when three Valyrian dragonlords</p><p>joined with their kin and cousins in Volantis to overwhelm, sack,</p><p>and destroy Sarhoy, the great Rhoynar port city upon the Summer</p><p>Sea. The warriors of Sarhoy were slaughtered savagely, their</p><p>children carried o� into slavery, and their proud pink city put to the</p><p>torch. Afterward the Volantenes sowed the smoking ruins with salt</p><p>so that Sarhoy might never rise again.</p><p>The utter destruction of one of the richest and most beautiful of</p><p>the cities of the Rhoyne, and the enslavement of her people,</p><p>shocked and dismayed the remaining Rhoynar princes. “We shall all</p><p>be slaves unless we join together to end this threat,” declared the</p><p>greatest of them, Garin of Chroyane. This warrior prince called</p><p>upon his fellows to join with him in a great alliance, to wash away</p><p>every Valyrian city on the river.</p><p>Only Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar spoke against him. “This is a</p><p>war we cannot hope to win,” she warned, but the other princes</p><p>shouted her down and pledged their swords to Garin. Even the</p><p>warriors of her own Ny Sar were eager to �ght, and Nymeria had</p><p>no choice but to join the great alliance.</p><p>The largest army that Essos had ever seen soon assembled at</p><p>Chroyane, under the command of Prince Garin. According to</p><p>Beldecar, it was a quarter of a million strong. From the headwaters</p><p>of the Rhoyne down to her many mouths, every man of �ghting age</p><p>took up sword and shield and made his way to the festival city to</p><p>join this great campaign. So long as the army remained beside</p><p>Mother Rhoyne, the prince declared, they need not fear the dragons</p><p>of Valyria; their own water wizards would protect them against the</p><p>�res of the Freehold.</p><p>Garin divided his enormous host into three parts; one marched</p><p>down the east bank of the Rhoyne, one along the west, whilst a</p><p>huge �eet of war galleys kept pace on the waters between,</p><p>sweeping the river clean of enemy ships. From Chroyane, Prince</p><p>Garin led his gathered might downriver, destroying every village,</p><p>town, and outpost in his path and smashing all opposition.</p><p>At Selhorys he won his �rst battle, overwhelming a Valyrian</p><p>army thirty thousand strong and taking the city by storm. Valysar</p><p>met the same fate. At Volon Therys, Garin found himself facing a</p><p>hundred thousand foes, a hundred war elephants, and three</p><p>dragonlords. Here too he prevailed, though at great cost. Thousands</p><p>burned, but thousands more sheltered in the shallows of the river,</p><p>whilst their wizards raised enormous waterspouts against the foe’s</p><p>dragons. Rhoynish archers brought down two of the dragons, whilst</p><p>the third �ed, wounded. In the aftermath, Mother Rhoyne rose in</p><p>rage to swallow Volon Therys. Thereafter men began to name the</p><p>victorious prince Garin the Great, and it is said that, in Volantis,</p><p>great lords trembled in terror as his host advanced. Rather than face</p><p>him in the �eld, the Volantenes retreated back behind their Black</p><p>Walls and appealed to the Freehold for help.</p><p>And the dragons came. Not three, as Prince Garin had faced at</p><p>Volon Therys, but three hundred or more, if the tales that have</p><p>come down to us can be believed. Against their �res, the Rhoynar</p><p>could not stand.</p><p>Tens of thousands burned whilst others rushed into</p><p>the river, hoping that the embrace of Mother Rhoyne would o�er</p><p>them protection against dragon�ame … only to drown in their</p><p>mother’s embrace. Some chroniclers insist that the �res burned so</p><p>hot that the very waters of the river boiled and turned to steam.</p><p>Garin the Great was captured alive and made to watch his people</p><p>su�er for their de�ance. His warriors were shown no such mercy.</p><p>The Volantenes and their Valyrian kin put them to the sword—so</p><p>many that it was said that their blood turned the great harbor of</p><p>Volantis red as far as the eye could see. Thereafter the victors</p><p>gathered their own forces and moved north along the river, sacking</p><p>Sar Mell savagely before advancing on Chroyane, Prince Garin’s</p><p>own city. Locked in a golden cage at the command of the</p><p>dragonlords, Garin was carried back to the festival city to witness</p><p>its destruction.</p><p>A pile of dead along the Rhoyne. (illustration credit 22)</p><p>At Chroyane, the cage was hung from the walls, so that the</p><p>prince might witness the enslavement of the women and children</p><p>whose fathers and brothers had died in his gallant, hopeless</p><p>war … but the prince, it is said, called down a curse upon the</p><p>conquerors, entreating Mother Rhoyne to avenge her children. And</p><p>so, that very night, the Rhoyne �ooded out of season and with</p><p>greater force than was known in living memory. A thick fog full of</p><p>evil humors fell, and the Valyrian conquerors began to die of</p><p>greyscale. (There is, at least, this much truth to the tale: in later</p><p>centuries, Lomas Longstrider wrote of the drowned ruins of</p><p>Chroyane, its foul fogs and waters, and the fact that wayward</p><p>travelers infected with greyscale now haunt the ruins—a hazard for</p><p>those who travel the river beneath the broken span of the Bridge of</p><p>Dream.)</p><p>Higher on the Rhoyne, in Ny Sar, Princess Nymeria soon received</p><p>the news of Garin’s shattering defeat and the enslavement of the</p><p>people of Chroyane and Sar Mell. The same fate awaited her own</p><p>city, she saw. Accordingly, she gathered every ship that remained</p><p>upon the Rhoyne, large or small, and �lled them full of as many</p><p>women and children as they could carry (for almost all the men of</p><p>�ghting age had marched with Garin, and died). Down the river</p><p>Nymeria led this ragged �eet, past ruined and smoking towns and</p><p>�elds of the dead, through waters choked with bloated, �oating</p><p>corpses. To avoid Volantis and its hosts, she chose the older channel</p><p>and emerged into the Summer Sea where once Sarhoy had stood.</p><p>Legend tells us that Nymeria took ten thousand ships to sea,</p><p>searching for a new home for her people beyond the long reach of</p><p>Valyria and its dragonlords. Beldecar argues that this number was</p><p>vastly in�ated, perhaps as much as tenfold. Other chroniclers o�er</p><p>other numbers, but in truth no true count was ever made. We can</p><p>safely say there were a great many ships. Most were river craft,</p><p>ski�s and poleboats, trading galleys, �shing boats, pleasure barges,</p><p>even rafts, their decks and holds crammed full of women and</p><p>children and old men. Only one in ten was remotely seaworthy,</p><p>Beldecar insists.</p><p>Nymeria’s voyage was long and terrible. More than a hundred</p><p>ships foundered and sank in the �rst storm her �eet encountered. As</p><p>many or more turned back in fear, and were taken by slavers out of</p><p>Volantis. Others fell behind or drifted away, never to be seen again.</p><p>Princess Nymeria leading the ten thousand ships. (illustration credit 23)</p><p>The remainder of the �eet limped across the Summer Sea to the</p><p>Basilisk Isles, where they paused to take on fresh water and</p><p>provisions, only to fall afoul of the corsair kings of Ax Isle, Talon,</p><p>and the Howling Mountain, who put aside their own quarrels long</p><p>enough to descend upon the Rhoynar with �re and sword, putting</p><p>twoscore ships to the torch and carrying o� hundreds into slavery.</p><p>In the aftermath, the corsairs o�ered to allow the Rhoynar to settle</p><p>upon the Isle of Toads, provided they gave up their boats and sent</p><p>each king thirty virgin girls and pretty boys each year as tribute.</p><p>Nymeria refused and took her �eet to sea once again, hoping to</p><p>�nd refuge amongst the steaming jungles of Sothoryos. Some</p><p>settled on Basilisk Point, others beside the glistening green waters</p><p>of the Zamoyos, amongst quicksands, crocodiles, and rotting, half-</p><p>drowned trees. Princess Nymeria herself remained with the ships at</p><p>Zamettar, a Ghiscari colony abandoned for a thousand years, whilst</p><p>others made their way upriver to the cyclopean ruins of Yeen, haunt</p><p>of ghouls and spiders.</p><p>There were riches to be found in Sothoryos—gold, gems, rare</p><p>woods, exotic pelts, queer fruits, and strange spices—but the</p><p>Rhoynar did not thrive there. The sullen wet heat oppressed their</p><p>spirits, and swarms of stinging �ies spread one disease after</p><p>another: green fever, the dancing plague, blood boils, weeping</p><p>sores, sweetrot. The young and very old proved especially</p><p>vulnerable to such contagions. Even to splash in the river was to</p><p>court death, for the Zamoyos was infested with schools of</p><p>carnivorous �sh, and tiny worms that laid their eggs in the �esh of</p><p>swimmers. Two of the new towns on Basilisk Point were raided by</p><p>slavers, their populaces put to the sword or carried o� in chains,</p><p>whilst Yeen had to contend with attacks from the brindled ghouls of</p><p>the jungle deeps.</p><p>For more than a year the Rhoynar struggled to survive in</p><p>Sothoryos, until the day when a boat from Zamettar arrived at Yeen</p><p>to �nd that every man, woman, and child in that haunted, ruined</p><p>city had vanished overnight. Then Nymeria summoned her people</p><p>back to the ships and set sail once again.</p><p>For the next three years the Rhoynar wandered the southern seas,</p><p>seeking a new home. On Naath, the Isle of Butter�ies, the peaceful</p><p>people gave them welcome, but the god that protects that strange</p><p>land began to strike down the newcomers by the score with a</p><p>nameless mortal illness, driving them back to their ships. In the</p><p>Summer Isles, they settled on an uninhabited rock o� the eastern</p><p>shore of Walano, which soon became known as the Isle of Women,</p><p>but its thin stony soil yielded little food, and many starved. When</p><p>the sails were raised again, some of the Rhoynar abandoned</p><p>Nymeria to follow a priestess named Druselka, who claimed to have</p><p>heard Mother Rhoyne calling her children home … but when</p><p>Druselka and her followers returned to their old cities, they found</p><p>their enemies waiting, and most were soon hunted down, slain, or</p><p>enslaved.</p><p>The battered, tattered remainder of the ten thousand ships sailed</p><p>west with Princess Nymeria. This time she made for Westeros. After</p><p>so much wandering, her ships were even less seaworthy than when</p><p>they had �rst departed Mother Rhoyne. The �eet did not arrive in</p><p>Dorne complete. Even now there are isolated pockets of Rhoynar on</p><p>the Stepstones, claiming descent from those who were shipwrecked.</p><p>Other ships, blown o� course by storms, made for Lys or Tyrosh,</p><p>giving themselves up to slavery in preference to a watery grave.</p><p>The remaining ships made landfall on the coast of Dorne near the</p><p>mouth of the river Greenblood, not far from the ancient sandstone</p><p>walls of The Sandship, seat of House Martell.</p><p>Dry, desolate, and thinly peopled, Dorne at this time was a poor</p><p>land where a score of quarrelsome lords and petty kings warred</p><p>endlessly over every river, stream, well, and scrap of fertile land.</p><p>Most of these Dornish lords viewed the Rhoynar as unwelcome</p><p>interlopers, invaders with queer foreign ways and strange gods,</p><p>who should be driven back into the sea whence they’d come. But</p><p>Mors Martell, the Lord of the Sandship, saw in the newcomers an</p><p>opportunity…and if the singers can be believed, his lordship also</p><p>lost his heart to Nymeria, the �erce and beautiful warrior queen</p><p>who had led her people across the world to keep them free.</p><p>It is said that, amongst the Rhoynar who came to Dorne with</p><p>Nymeria, eight of every ten were women…but a quarter of those</p><p>were warriors, in the Rhoynish tradition, and even those who did</p><p>not �ght had been hardened during their travels and travails.</p>