Aegor Rivers

Ser; Aegor Rivers; Bittersteel
	Aegor Rivers, by Roman Papusev ©
Alias	Bittersteel
Titles	Ser; Captain-general;
Allegiances	House Bracken; House Blackfyre; Second Sons; Golden Company;
Culture	Rivermen
Born	172 AC; King's Landing
Died	241 AC (aged 69); Disputed Lands
Father	Aegon IV Targaryen
Mother	Barba Bracken
Spouse	Calla Blackfyre (promised)
Coat of arms	A red stallion with black wings snorting flame on gold; (Or, a stallion gules winged sable flammant proper)
Books	The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned); The Sworn Sword (mentioned); The Mystery Knight (mentioned); A Feast for Crows (mentioned); A Dance with Dragons (mentioned); The Winds of Winter (mentioned);

Aegor Rivers, frequently called Bittersteel, was one of the Great Bastards, a son of King Aegon IV Targaryen by his fifth mistress, Lady Barba Bracken.^[1]^[7] The knight was a major supporter of the pretender king Daemon I Blackfyre and the later Blackfyre pretenders.^[2] Aegor was the founder of the Golden Company, a famed group of exiled sellswords.^[2] In his personal arms, he combined the red stallion of House Bracken with black dragon wings from House Blackfyre, on a golden field.^[7]

Appearance and Character

Being half-Targaryen, Aegor had purple eyes, but black hair. As an adult, he had a close-cropped beard, little more than a shadow on his face. He looked like a warrior, tall and muscular, but was lean and lithe like a panther.^[7]

Aegor's armor was well-made but plain, grey-steel and black rings. On his helm was a horsehead crest, with a horse's mane flowing behind. His shield displayed his personal sigil: a stallion with black dragon wings, on a golden field, snorting fire.^[7]

Angry all of his life, Aegor never smiled.^[7] Reportedly, he was a hard man who had little use for anything beyond war.^[8] Bittersteel was easily irritated and offended, sometimes attributed to his Bracken blood.^[2] Aegor especially loathed his younger half-brother, Brynden Rivers, and Brynden's mother, Melissa Blackwood, who had replaced Aegor's mother, Barba Bracken, as King Aegon IV Targaryen's mistress.^[7]

History

Early life

In 172 AC, Aegor was born at King's Landing to the fifth of King Aegon IV Targaryen's mistresses, Barba Bracken. Aegor was born only a fortnight before Aegon's wife, Queen Naerys Targaryen, nearly died in childbirth. With Naerys lingering near death, Barba's father, the Hand of the King, began to speak openly of Barba marrying King Aegon IV. However, his words became a scandal when Queen Naerys recovered her health. Naerys's brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and her son, Prince Daeron Targaryen, forced King Aegon to send both Barba and her bastard son away from court. Aegor was raised at Stone Hedge in the riverlands by the Brackens.^[1]

King Aegon IV was visiting Aegor at Stone Hedge in 177 AC when he met Barba's younger sister, Bethany Bracken, and took her for his seventh mistress. However, Bethany's affair with Ser Terrence Toyne, a Kingsguard, soon resulted in the execution of Terrence, Bethany, and her father, Aegor's grandfather.^[1]

The angry Aegor reserved particular loathing for his half-brother Brynden Rivers, whose mother, Melissa Blackwood, had replaced his own as their father's favorite mistress. Aegor loathed Brynden, who was known as Bloodraven, even further when Shiera Seastar, their beautiful half-sister and a fellow Great Bastard, chose Brynden over him. Their other half-brother, Daemon Blackfyre, agreed to wed his daughter Calla to Aegor; however, it is unknown if and when the marriage took place. Aegor often urged Daemon to press his own claim to the Iron Throne.^[2]

First Blackfyre Rebellion

In the First Blackfyre Rebellion in 196 AC, Aegor sided with the pretender king Daemon I Blackfyre against King Daeron II Targaryen. During the battle of the Redgrass Field, Aegor commanded the right of Daemon's host.^[9]

To prevent a rout upon Daemon's death during the battle, Aegor picked up Daemon's Valyrian steel sword, Blackfyre, rallied his troops, and madly charged into the Raven's Teeth, the archers of Brynden Rivers. Bittersteel met Bloodraven in the middle of his charge, and a mighty duel followed. Though he took out Bloodraven's eye during their duel, Aegor ultimately fled the battlefield.^[10]^[2]

Bittersteel fled Westeros with Daemon's widow, Rohanne of Tyrosh, her surviving children, the blade Blackfyre, and hundreds of now-landless lords and knights, eventually settling in the Free City of Tyrosh.^[10]^[11]

The Golden Company

Aegor served a year with the Second Sons mercenary company.^[12] However, as other exile lords began to join other mercenary companies and the support for the Blackfyres began to scatter, Bittersteel left the Second Sons to create the Golden Company, to bind the exiles together.^[11] Shortly after its creation, the Golden Company became one of the most famous and disciplined sellsword companies known in the Free Cities. They quickly established their reputation by sacking Qohor when the city refused to honor its contract.^[4] While sellswords are notoriously unreliable, the Golden Company has a respectable reputation. They are said to have never broken a contract.^[13] The war cry of the Golden Company is "Beneath the gold, the bitter steel,"^[14]^[11] which refers to Aegor's nickname, Bittersteel.

The Golden Company was heavily involved in three of the four Blackfyre Rebellions that followed the first one. However, Aegor refused to support the pretender king Daemon II Blackfyre during the Second Blackfyre Rebellion in 211 AC, and maesters of the Citadel often debate why. Many believe that Daemon and Lord Gormon Peake could not convince Aegor that their plan was sensible and could succeed despite the odds. Some think Bittersteel was a man who had little use for anything but war and distrusted Daemon's dreams and love of fine things, and some think Daemon's homosexuality troubled Aegor enough to deny him his assistance.^[8] Bittersteel remained in Essos with the sword Blackfyre, a factor in the failure of the rebellion.^[9]

In 219 AC, Haegon I Blackfyre and Bittersteel launched the Third Blackfyre Rebellion. During the rebellion, Bloodraven and Bittersteel dueled for the second time. At the end of the battle, Haegon was killed after surrendering, but Aegor was captured and brought to the Red Keep in chains. Though Brynden Rivers and Prince Aerion Targaryen argued that Aegor should be executed, King Aerys I Targaryen decided to send him to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. However, the ship taking Aegor north was intercepted, and he was freed and returned to the Golden Company. Before the year was over, Aegor crowned Daemon III Blackfyre, Haegon I's eldest son, and resumed plotting against King Aerys in Tyrosh.^[8]

During one of the Blackfyre Rebellions, Aegor swore a blood oath with Torwyn Greyjoy, but this Lord Reaper of Pyke betrayed Bittersteel to his enemies.^[15]

In 236 AC, Aegor landed on Massey's Hook at the head of the Golden Company with Daemon III, starting the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. The rebellion was crushed at the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, though Aegor managed to escape.^[5]^[16] A few years after that battle, Aegor reappeared in the Disputed Lands, fighting with the Golden Company in a skirmish between Tyrosh and Myr.^[5]

When Aegor died at the age of sixty-nine in 241 AC, it is said he died as he had lived, with a sword in his hand and defiance upon his lips.^[5] On his deathbed, he commanded the men of the Golden Company to boil the flesh from his skull, dip it in gold, and carry it before them when they crossed the narrow sea to retake Westeros. The captains-general who have since led the Golden Company have followed Aegor's example.^[17]

Legacy

According to a semi-canon source, Aegor had no children.^[18] The war cry of the Golden Company, "Beneath the gold, the bitter steel", pays homage to their founder.^[14]

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

In Dorne, Princess Arianne Martell tells Ser Arys Oakheart that the Golden Company has broken their contract with Myr, mentioning that the exiles are united by the dream of Bittersteel.^[13]

A Dance with Dragons

Illyrio Mopatis discusses the Golden Company with the exiled Tyrion Lannister, who recalls the story of Aegor's founding of the sellsword company. That night, Tyrion dreams of a battle in Westeros in which he fights alongside Ser Barristan Selmy and Bittersteel with dragons overhead. Tyrion kills his father, Lord Tywin, and brother, Ser Jaime, in the dream.^[11] When Tyrion joins the Second Sons, Tybero Istarion informs him that Bittersteel had served with that company before establishing the Golden Company.^[12]

Aegor's skull, along with those of successive captains-general, is still in possession of the Golden Company. All are kept in the tent of the current captain-general, Ser Harry Strickland, with Aegor's displayed in the center on a tall pike. Jon Connington sees Aegor's grinning skull when he meets with the Golden Company in Volon Therys.^[17] During the landing of the Golden Company in the stormlands, Jon realizes that Harry is a much more cautious leader than Aegor.^[19]

Barristan recalls how bloodshed resulted from Aegor and Brynden Rivers both having loved Shiera Seastar.^[20]

The Winds of Winter

Warning
This information has thus far been released in a sample chapter for The Winds of Winter, and might therefore not be in finalized form. Keep in mind that the content as described below is still subject to change.

At the crofters' village, Ser Justin Massey advises Stannis Baratheon to regroup across the narrow sea and raise a new army as Bittersteel did after the Battle of the Redgrass Field. Stannis refuses, however, as Aegor was a bastard who never succeeded in putting any of Daemon Blackfyre's sons on the Iron Throne.^[21]

Quotes

Bitter his steel may have been, but worse was his tongue. He spilled poison in Daemon's ear, and with him came the clamoring of other knights and lords with grievances.^[2]
—writings of Yandel

The Mother marked Lord Rivers on the day that he was born, and Bittersteel marked him once again upon the Redgrass Field.^[10]
—Sefton to Duncan the Tall

Kyle: Myself, I blame Bloodraven. He is the King's Hand, yet he does nothing, whilst the krakens spread flame and terror up and down the sunset sea.

Maynard: His eye is fixed on Tyrosh, where Bittersteel sits in exile, plotting with the sons of Daemon Blackfyre. So he keeps the king's ships close at hand, lest they attempt to cross.

Kyle: Aye, that may well be, but many would welcome the return of Bittersteel. Bloodraven is the root of all our woes, the white worm gnawing at the heart of the realm.^[9]
—Kyle the Cat and Maynard Plumm

Tommard: ...beggar's feast you've laid before us. Without Bittersteel...
Gormon: Bittersteel be buggered. No bastard can be trusted, not even him. A few victories will bring him over the water fast enough.^[9]
—Tommard Heddle and Gormon Peake

I've been too lax, I will allow, but I have never been a traitor. Frey and I harbored doubts about Lord Peake's pretender since the beginning. He does not bear the sword! If he were his father's son, Bittersteel would have armed him with Blackfyre.^[9]
—Ambrose Butterwell to Aegon Targaryen

All the skulls were grinning, even Bittersteel's on the tall pike in the center. What does he have to grin about? He died defeated and alone, a broken man in an alien land.^[17]
—thoughts of Jon Connington

Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled.^[20]
—thoughts of Barristan Selmy

When he fled, he swore he would return to place a son of Daemon's upon the Iron Throne. He never did. Words are wind, and the wind that blows exiles across the narrow sea seldom blows them back.^[21]
—Stannis Baratheon to Justin Massey

Bittersteel was half-dragon, and all bastard.^[22]
—Arianne Martell to Lysono Maar

Family

Two sons

Aegor
Rivers
^{[Note 1]}

Aemon

Haegon

Unknown
wife

Daughter(s)

Daemon III

Son(s)

Daemon

Maelys

Notes:

↑ Daemon I agreed to wed his eldest daughter, Calla, to Aegor.^[2] However, it is unknown if and when the marriage took place.

Behind the Scenes

George R. R. Martin first imagined Aegor's personal arms as a grey longsword displayed bendy sinister with a black dragon's head above and a red horse's head below, both facing out, on a white field.^[7] He also compared Bittersteel's appearance to Conan the Barbarian, as described by Robert E. Howard and depicted by Barry Windsor-Smith.^[7]

According to Elio García, Aegor Rivers was originally named Daeron in George R. R. Martin's genealogy notes from 1999.^[23]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 ^2.6 ^2.7 ^2.8 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 See the Aegor Rivers calculations.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Aegor Rivers.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 ^7.4 ^7.5 ^7.6 ^7.7 So Spake Martin: The Great Bastards (December 26, 2005).
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 ^8.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys I.
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 ^9.2 ^9.3 ^9.4 The Mystery Knight.
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 ^10.2 The Sworn Sword.
↑ ^11.0 ^11.1 ^11.2 ^11.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
↑ ^12.0 ^12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 66, Tyrion XII.
↑ ^13.0 ^13.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
↑ ^14.0 ^14.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 21, The Queenmaker.
↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Old Way and the New.
↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons.
↑ ^17.0 ^17.1 ^17.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.
↑ GRRM interview with John Picacio in Redwood City at the Fox Theater. August 14, 2018. Event occurs at 1:51:33. https://youtu.be/ThdsQtp1Sxw?si=ZN3gmI9kLln3lpwV&t=6693.
↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn.
↑ ^20.0 ^20.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.
↑ ^21.0 ^21.1 The Winds of Winter, Theon I
↑ The Winds of Winter, Arianne II
↑ asoiaf.westeros.org: The ASOIAF wiki thread Comment by Ran (August 31, 2026)

New title	1st captain-general of the Golden Company 212–241 AC	Unknown Next known title holder: Daemon Blackfyre

[23] Daemon I agreed to wed his eldest daughter, Calla, to Aegor.^[2] However, it is unknown if and when the marriage took place.

[Rtwoiafthe_targaryen_kings:_aegon_iv{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.

[Rtwoiafthe_targaryen_kings:_daeron_ii{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 ^2.6 ^2.7 ^2.8 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.

[Cal-3] 3.0 ^3.1 See the Aegor Rivers calculations.

[Rawoiafaegor_rivers{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-4] 4.0 ^4.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Aegor Rivers.

[Rtwoiafthe_targaryen_kings:_aegon_v{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.

[Rtwoiaf_the_targaryen_kings:_daeron_ii{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-6] The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.

[Rssm1467{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 ^7.4 ^7.5 ^7.6 ^7.7 So Spake Martin: The Great Bastards (December 26, 2005).

[Rtwoiafthe_targaryen_kings:_aerys_i{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-8] 8.0 ^8.1 ^8.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys I.

[Rtmk{{{2}}}{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-9] 9.0 ^9.1 ^9.2 ^9.3 ^9.4 The Mystery Knight.

[Rtss{{{2}}}{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-10] 10.0 ^10.1 ^10.2 The Sworn Sword.

[Radwd5{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-11] 11.0 ^11.1 ^11.2 ^11.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.

[Radwd66{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-12] 12.0 ^12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 66, Tyrion XII.

[Raffc13{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-13] 13.0 ^13.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.

[Raffc21{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-14] 14.0 ^14.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 21, The Queenmaker.

[Rtwoiafthe_iron_islands:_the_old_way_and_the_new{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-15] The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Old Way and the New.

[Rtwoiafthe_westerlands:_house_lannister_under_the_dragons{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-16] The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons.

[Radwd24{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-17] 17.0 ^17.1 ^17.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.

[18] GRRM interview with John Picacio in Redwood City at the Fox Theater. August 14, 2018. Event occurs at 1:51:33. https://youtu.be/ThdsQtp1Sxw?si=ZN3gmI9kLln3lpwV&t=6693.

[Radwd61{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-19] A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn.

[Radwd67{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-20] 20.0 ^20.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.

[TheonI-21] 21.0 ^21.1 The Winds of Winter, Theon I

[Ar2-22] The Winds of Winter, Arianne II

[24] soiaf.westeros.org: The ASOIAF wiki thread Comment by Ran (August 31, 2026)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[Note 1]

[23]

Ser Aegor Rivers Bittersteel
Aegor Rivers, by Roman Papusev ©

Alias	Bittersteel^[1]
Titles	Ser^[2] Captain-general^[2]
Allegiances	House Bracken House Blackfyre Second Sons Golden Company
Culture	Rivermen
Born	172 AC^[3] King's Landing^[4]
Died	241 AC^[3] (aged 69)^[5] Disputed Lands
Father	Aegon IV Targaryen
Mother	Barba Bracken
Spouse	Calla Blackfyre (promised)^[6]
Coat of arms	A red stallion with black wings snorting flame on gold (Or, a stallion gules winged sable flammant proper)
Books	The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned) The Sworn Sword (mentioned) The Mystery Knight (mentioned) A Feast for Crows (mentioned) A Dance with Dragons (mentioned) The Winds of Winter (mentioned)