Jaehaerys II Targaryen

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House Targaryen.svg King
Jaehaerys II Targaryen
House Targaryen.svg
JAEHAERYS II.jpg
Jaehaerys II by Amok©
Monarch
Reign 259262 AC
Full name Jaehaerys Targaryen the Second of His Name
Titles
Predecessor Aegon V Targaryen
Heir Aerys II Targaryen
Successor Aerys II Targaryen
Personal Information
Born In 225 AC[2], at King's Landing[3]
Died In 262 AC[4], at King's Landing[5]
Family
Dynasty House Targaryen
Queen Shaera Targaryen
Issue Aerys II Targaryen
Rhaella Targaryen
Father Aegon V Targaryen
Mother Betha Blackwood
References
Books

Jaehaerys II Targaryen was a Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and the sixteenth Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne. He was the second born son of King Aegon V Targaryen and Queen Betha Blackwood.[6] Jaehaerys was the father of King Aerys II Targaryen and Queen Rhaella Targaryen, and the grandfather of Rhaegar, Viserys and Daenerys.

Appearance and Character

Jaehaerys was sickly looking, pale and frail with large purple eyes and shoulder-length hair. He suffered from numerous ailments throughout his life.[7] Jaehaerys was reckoned a weak king by many.[8] An amiable and clever, yet sickly man, Jaehaerys died at the young age of thirty-seven.[9]

Jaehaerys wore a cape that concealed one arm. His crown was the red gold band with black iron points worn by Maekar I before him.[9]

History

Early life

Jaehaerys's father, King Aegon V Targaryen, had developed a deep distaste for the Targaryen practice of incestuous marriages and was determined to end the custom. Thus, in 237 AC, Jaehaerys was betrothed to Celia Tully, the daughter of the Lord of Riverrun. However, from a young age, Jaehaerys had been of a more traditional frame of mind, as he was in love with his sister, Princess Shaera. Shaera, in turn, desired him. King Aegon V and Queen Betha observed this and were alerted because of it. They did everything they could to separate the two siblings, yet this only served to inflame their passion.[1]

While Jaehaerys had been betrothed to Celia Tully, Princess Shaera had been betrothed in 237 AC to Luthor Tyrell, the heir to Highgarden.[1] When Jaehaerys's and Shaera's elder brother, Prince Duncan, broke his betrothal to the daughter of Lord Lyonel Baratheon in 239 AC and married a common born girl known as Jenny of Oldstones, Prince Jaehaerys and Princess Shaera took note. Duncan was forced to choose between the Iron Throne and his position as heir to the throne, and his new bride. King Aegon V, in the end, relented, though Duncan was excluded from the line of succession.[1]

Thus, in 240 AC, Jaehaerys and Shaera followed in Duncan's footsteps. They eluded their guardians, and secretly wed and consummated the marriage. Aegon despaired over this, but felt he had no choice, as the marriage had been consummated. He was forced to relent to his children's wishes, while at the same time dealing with the anger and wounded pride of both House Tully and House Tyrell.[1]

Following their example, the younger brother of Duncan and Jaehaerys, Prince Daeron Targaryen, would later also break his betrothal, meaning all sons of King Aegon V married for love, which the king had only agreed to because he himself had been allowed to do so.[10]

In 244 AC Jaehaerys and Shaera had their first child, a son who they named Aerys. A daughter, Rhaella, followed within the next two years.[11]

While Jaehaerys himself had married for love, he later commanded his son, Prince Aerys, and daughter, Princess Rhaella, to marry each other, despite neither desiring this match. A woods witch, brought to court by Jenny of Oldstones, prophesied that the prince that was promised would be born from their line.[12] Whilst King Aegon V was frustrated by Jaehaerys's decision, he let his son have his way.[1] The firstborn child of Aerys and Rhaella, Prince Rhaegar, was born in the year 259 AC, on the same day that the Tragedy at Summerhall took place, a tragedy which killed multiple members of House Targaryen, including King Aegon V Targaryen and his eldest son, Duncan.[13]

Reign

Jaehaerys ascended the throne at the age of thirty-four. Despite his young age, his reign would be short, lasting only three years.[7] Dalbridge, who would later join the Night's Watch, served as a squire to Jaehaerys II in his youth.[14][15]

The most notable event that occurred in his reign was the War of the Ninepenny Kings. The conflict had been brewing for some time.[1] The Band of Nine seized the Stepstones and Jaehaerys feared they would use the islands as a base of operation to launch a war on the Seven Kingdoms. Despite being the least martial of Aegon V's sons, he proved capable of defending realm from the Blackfyre pretender Maelys the Monstrous.[3][7] Wanting to end the Blackfyre threat once and for all, Jaehaerys assembled the armies of the Iron Throne.[7] Jaehaerys wanted to command the attack against Maelys himself, but his Hand of the King, Lord Ormund Baratheon, counseled the king to remain at King's Landing with Queen Shaera. Instead, Lord Ormund led the attack himself. In 260 AC, the Targaryen armies landed on three of the Stepstones and the war lasted for most of that year.[7] In the end, it was a young knight, Ser Barristan Selmy, who slew Maelys in single combat.[7][16][17] With Maelys dead, the rest of the Band of Nine lost interest in Westeros and fell back to their own domains.[7]

Due to his delicate health, Jaehaerys was considered weak by many, but Ser Barristan Selmy, whom he raised to the Kingsguard,[16] thought differently. Jaehaerys's reign only lasted three years, but he reigned well in those short years. He proved a capable king, restoring order to the kingdom, ending the Blackfyre threat and reconciling many of the Great Houses who had grown unhappy with his father's reign.[7] In 262 AC, after barely three years on the throne, King Jaehaerys II Targaryen died after a short illness, complaining of a sudden shortness of breath, at the age of thirty-seven.[7]

Recent Events

A Storm of Swords

Arstan Whitebeard mentions Jaehaerys to Daenerys Targaryen. Dany is struck by the realization that Arstan knew her grandfather and will be able to tell her about her family, the people she comes from. Arstan also tells her of the latent madness in her family and that Jaehaerys once told him that madness and greatness were two sides of the same coin.[18]

A Dance with Dragons

In Meereen Ser Barristan Selmy reveals to Daenerys that her grandsire, King Jaehaerys II, arranged the marriage between her parents, Prince Aerys and Princess Rhaella.[12]

After Daenerys's disappearance Ser Barristan thinks to himself that it is his failures that haunt him at night, one of which is King Jaehaerys, whom he feels he failed, as he had stood in his white cloak beside the Iron Throne as madness consumed Jaehaerys’s son Aerys. Ser Barristan recalls that he stood, and saw, and heard, and yet did nothing.[16]

In the Great Pyramid's audience chamber, when Admiral Groleo's severed head is presented to King Hizdahr zo Loraq, Ser Barristan glances toward the throne, having served so many kings he cannot help but imagine how they might have reacted to this provocation, he thinks that even Jaehaerys, reckoned weak by many, would have ordered the arrest of Bloodbeard and the Yunkish slavers.[8]

Quotes

King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness were two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.[18]

Jaehaerys. This old man knew my grandfather.[18]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aegon V
 
Betha
Blackwood
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Duncan
 
Jenny
of Oldstones
 
Jaehaerys II
 
Shaera
 
Daeron
 
Rhaelle
 
Ormund
Baratheon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aerys II
 
Rhaella
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
House Baratheon.svg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaegar
 
Elia
Martell
 
Shaena
 
 
Stillborn
child
 
 
Jaehaerys
 
 
Drogo
 
Daenerys
 
Hizdahr
zo Loraq
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaenys
 
Aegon
 
 
 
Daeron
 
Aegon
 
Viserys
 
Rhaego
 

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
  2. See the Jaehaerys II Targaryen calculation.
  3. 3.0 3.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Jaehaerys II.
  4. A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
  5. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Jaehaerys II.
  6. The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Targaryen Lineage.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys II.
  8. 8.0 8.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 59, The Discarded Knight.
  9. 9.0 9.1 So Spake Martin: Targaryen Kings, November 01, 2005
  10. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.
  11. See the Aerys II Targaryen and Rhaella Targaryen calculations.
  12. 12.0 12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 23, Daenerys IV.
  13. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Rhaegar Targaryen.
  14. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Dalbridge.
  15. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 56, Theon V.
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 55, The Queensguard.
  17. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 67, Jaime VIII.
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 71, Daenerys VI.
Preceded by 21st Prince of Dragonstone
239259 AC
Succeeded by
Preceded by 16th
King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men
Lord of the Seven Kingdoms
Protector of the Realm

259262 AC
Succeeded by