Aegon I Targaryen

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Aegon I
House Targaryen crest.PNG
AEGON I.jpg
Aegon Targaryen by Amok©
Monarch
Reign 1 AC37 AC
Coronation 1 AC
Full name Aegon Targaryen First of His Name
Titles
  • Lord of Dragonstone
  • King of All Westeros
  • Shield of His People
  • King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men
  • Lord of the Seven Kingdoms
  • Protector of the Realm
Predecessor none
Heir Aenys Targaryen
Successor Aenys I Targaryen
Personal Information
Aliases
  • Aegon the Conqueror
  • Aegon the Dragon
  • Aegon the Dragonlord
Born 27 BC[1]
Dragonstone
Died 37 AC[2]
Dragonstone
Family
Dynasty House Targaryen
Queens
Issue Aenys I Targaryen
Maegor I Targaryen
Father Aerion Targaryen
Mother Valaena Velaryon
References
Books

Aegon I Targaryen, also known as Aegon the Conqueror and Aegon the Dragon, was the first King on the Iron Throne, having conquered six of the Seven Kingdoms in his War of Conquest. He was the founder of the ruling Targaryen dynasty of Westeros.

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Aegon I Targaryen

Aegon was tall, broad shouldered and powerful in appearance, with purple eyes and short-cut silver-gold hair. He was very charismatic and commanding. During the Conquest he typically wore a shirt of black scales into battle and wielded his Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre. His crown was a simple circlet of Valyrian steel, set with big square-cut rubies. [3]

Aegon was seen as an enigma. He was a solitary person whose only friend was Orys Baratheon. He was a great warrior who wielded a sword called Blackfyre but only rode his dragon for battle or travel and never entered tourneys. He remained faithful to his sisters and left governance in their hands and only took command when necessary. While he was harsh with those who defied him, he was generous to those that bent the knee.[4]

Aegon was nearly as mysterious to his era as he is to the current era.[5]

Biography

Early life

Aegon was from the island of Dragonstone, the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold, which his family had settled over a century before the Doom of Valyria. According to Targaryen tradition, Aegon married within the family; however, instead of just one sister, he married both of them: his elder sister, Visenya, and his younger sister, Rhaenys. All three were dragonriders before they were wed.

In the aftermath of Volantis's expansion and attack on Tyrosh, Aegon, the Lord of Dragonsone, supported Pentos and Tyrosh. Atop his dragon, Balerion the Black Dread, Aegon burned a Volantene fleet before it could attack Lys. After the defeat of Volantis, Aegon returned to Dragonstone.[6]

The Conquest

File:Aegon And His Sisters by Amok..png
King Aegon I with his sister Queens - By Amok ©

Aegon decided to go west to Westeros, and for years he planned his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. He made a huge table map of Westeros painted without any borders to signify that it should be one realm alone instead of many. This map later became known as the Painted Table. His plan was ambitious but eventually successful.

When Aegon was ready, he and his two sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, landed with his army on the east coast of Westeros at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, where he constructed the wooden Aegonfort. With the aid of their three dragons (Vhagar, Meraxes, and Balerion the Black Dread) Aegon led the Targaryen army to victory after victory, conquering or subjugating six of the seven kingdoms of Westeros and reestablishing the riverlands as a separate region. He failed to conquer Dorne, however, and eventually was forced to respect their autonomy.

During the invasion Aegon converted to the Faith of the Seven as a political maneuver [7]. Through the conversion he won the Faith's support, and dated the beginning of his reign from the day the High Septon anointed him in Oldtown.[8] Rather than ruling from Oldtown or Dragonstone, Aegon chose to make his seat King's Landing, the new settlement growing around the Aegonfort. He also took the swords of his defeated enemies, forging them into the Iron Throne.[1]

First Dornish War

Knowing that Dorne was the Targaryens' only defeat, Aegon launched another invasion hoping to complete the conquest in 4 AC. The First Dornish War resulted in the death of Rhaenys Targaryen when a lucky shot from a scorpion took her dragon Meraxes in the eye, and the dragon crashed from the sky dead taking her rider with her. Aegon's wroth after Rhaenys's death knew no bonds.

Aegon and Visenya placed bounties on the heads of Dornish lords and in turn the Dornish put bounties on the price of the Targaryens. Aegon and Visenya were assaulted on the streets of King's Landing and if not for Visenya and Dark Sister they would have been killed. This attack led to the forming of the elite royal bodyguard known as the Kingsguard in 10 AC. Visenya personally chose the men herself. The attempted conquest of Dorne was called to an end in 13 AC after Aegon, atop the Iron Throne, read a message delivered from a Prince of Dorne. [9]

Later life

Aegon spent much of his reign consolidating his power by traveling throughout the Seven Kingdoms and building his capital at King's Landing. During his rule he tread carefully with the Faith of the Seven, so they would not oppose him.[10] Aegon built a grand sept on Visenya's Hill and agreed to the construction of an even grander one known as the Sept of Remembrance on Rhaenys's Hill. [2] He created the office of Hand of the King and Orys Baratheon was made the first Hand.[1]

King's Landing initially lacked walls as Aegon felt no one would assault a city protected by dragons. Realizing that he and Visenya were not always in the city, however, he ordered massive walls to be made to surround the city, with construction of the city walls and its gates completed in 26 AC.

Aegon found the Aegonfort was not suitable for a king, and it was torn to the ground in 35 AC. Aegon moved his family and court back to Dragonstone, while he commanded the construction of what would later be called the Red Keep. It was rumored that Aegon placed Visenya in charge of the building of the Red Keep so that he would not have to suffer her presence on Dragonstone. The Iron Throne remained at the build site instead of Dragonstone, since it was too heavy to be moved.[citation needed]

While at Dragonstone's Painted Table in 37 AC, Aegon died from a stroke while telling a tale of his conquest to two of his grandsons. Upon his death and the ascension of his sons, Aenys I and then Maegor I, several rebellions broke through out the Seven Kingdoms that eventually evolved into the Faith Militant uprising. War, death and chaos gripped the Seven Kingdoms that did not end until the reign of Aegon's grandson, Jaehaerys I.

Small Council under Aegon I

During the reign of King Aerys his small council had the following known members:

Quotes by Aegon

There will be only one king.[11]


A king should never sit easy.[12]


At nightfall, your line will end. [13]

– Aegon, to Harren Hoare

Quotes about Aegon

Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice.[14]

Daenerys Targaryen


Aegon once stood here as I do, looking down on this table. Do you think we would name him Aegon the Conqueror today if he had not had dragons?[15]

Stannis Baratheon, to Davos Seaworth

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Valaena
Velaryon
 
Aerion
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unknown
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Visenya
 
Aegon I
 
Rhaenys
 
 
Orys
Baratheon
 
Argella
Durrandon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ceryse
Hightower
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aenys I
 
Alyssa
Velaryon
 
 
House Baratheon.svg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Elinor
Costayne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alys
Harroway
 
 
Maegor I
 
Rhaena
 
Aegon
 
Viserys
 
Jaehaerys I
 
Alysanne
 
Vaella
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jeyne
Westerling
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tyanna of
the Tower
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaella
 
Aerea
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
House Targaryen.svg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


References and Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Conquest.
  2. 2.0 2.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Aegon I.
  3. So Spake Martin: Targaryen Kings, (November 1, 2005).
  4. Reading from the world of Ice and Fire. Notes from George R.R. Martin's reading and Q&A at the Bubonicon 44 in Albuquerque by Trebla.
  5. Chicon 7 Reading (September 02, 2012) So Spake Martin
  6. The World of Ice & Fire, The Doom of Valyria.
  7. The Citadel. "Asshai.com Forum Chat" (July 27, 2008) So Spake Martin
  8. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
  9. The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne against the Dragons.
  10. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 33, Jaime V.
  11. Chicon 7 Reading (September 02, 2012) So Spake Martin
  12. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 43, Eddard XI, p 462.
  13. Chicon 7 Reading (September 02, 2012) So Spake Martin
  14. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 71, Daenerys VI.
  15. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V, p 601.

External Links