Difference between revisions of "First Blackfyre Rebellion"

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Jump to: navigation, search
(Rebels (Blackfyre supporters))
(Rebels (Blackfyre supporters))
Line 60: Line 60:
 
* [[House Peake]]
 
* [[House Peake]]
 
* [[House Osgrey]]
 
* [[House Osgrey]]
 +
* [[House Strickland]]
 
* [[House Sunderland]]
 
* [[House Sunderland]]
 
* [[House Yronwood]]
 
* [[House Yronwood]]

Revision as of 21:38, 9 September 2011

The Blackfyre Rebellion
Date 195-196 AL
Location Westeros, the Riverlands
Battles Battle of the Redgrass Field
Result Decisive Targaryen victory
Belligerents
House TargaryenHouse Blackfyre
Notable commanders
Daeron II Targaryen
Brynden Rivers
Lord Hayford
Baelor Targaryen
Maekar Targaryen
Daemon Blackfyre
Aegor Rivers
Quentyn Ball

The Blackfyre Rebellion was a civil war in the Seven Kingdoms between House Targaryen and the Blackfyre pretenders over the Iron Throne.

Background

King Aegon IV Targaryen had legitimised all of his bastards on his deathbed. His noble bastards were called the Great Bastards, the most notable of whom was Daemon Blackfyre, a great warrior and wielder of the Targaryen sword of kings, Blackfyre. After King Daeron II Targaryen assumed the throne in 184 AL, his court adopted a Dornish flavor, due to the influence of his wife, Myriah Martell. Some at court took exception to the change. In addition, popular rumors held that King Aegon IV's sister-wife Naerys had shared her affections with their other brother, Aemon the Dragonknight, leading to the possibility that Daeron II was not the son of Aegon IV.

War

After more than a decade of building tension, open warfare erupted in 195 AL. Daemon Blackfyre mustered a sizable army against Daeron and was joined by his half-brother Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers, a fellow Great Bastard. Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, another Great Bastard, remained loyal to the King. Daemon began to mint his own coinage.[1] Heavy fighting erupted over the next year, with the Riverlands particularly afflicted.

Ser Quentyn Ball, a Blackfyre loyalist, attacked the Westerlands, killing Lord Lefford at the gates of Lannisport and then defeating Lord Damon Lannister in turn. At the crossing of the Mander, Ser Quentyn slew all of Lady Penrose's sons except for the youngest, whom he spared as a favor to the lady. A key general, he was slain on the eve of the Battle of the Redgrass Field by an archer.[2]

Finally, at the Battle of the Redgrass Field in 196 AL Bittersteel and Blackfyre led a strong force against a royalist army commanded by Prince Maekar and Lord Hayford, the King's Hand. The fighting was very heavy, with Lord Hayford slain. During the battle Blackfyre came face-to-face with Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard, wielder of the Valyrian steel blade Lady Forlorn. Their duel was said to have lasted nearly an hour before Blackfyre gained the upper hand. However, by this time a second royalist force was approaching from the south led by Prince Baelor. Perhaps even more critical was that Bloodraven and his archers, the Raven's Teeth, captured and assumed a position atop the Weeping Ridge, which overlooked the battlefield and allowed them to rain arrows down among Blackfyre and his commanders. Bloodraven personally killed Daemon Blackfyre and his twin sons Aemon and Aegon. The rebels began to rout, but Bittersteel rallied them by leading a charge that decimated the Raven's Teeth, taking out Bloodraven's eye in the process. However, Prince Baelor's Dornish spearmen gained the battlefield and crushed the rebel army against Maekar's shield wall.[3]

It is unknown how many men took part in the final battle, but it is known that more than ten thousand died in the engagement, earning it the name Redgrass Field. With Daemon dead and his forces defeated, the Rebellion was over.

Aftermath

Singers would later immortalize the Battle of Redgrass Field with the song "The Hammer and Anvil", referring to Baelor and Maekar's strategy.

Bittersteel was able to recover the sword Blackfyre from the battlefield and escape to the Free Cities, where Blackfyre's other sons had already fled. In exile, Daemon's descendants continued their struggle for the Iron Throne. The last of his line, Maelys the Monsterous, was slain during the War of the Ninepenny Kings by Barristan Selmy, forever ending the Blackfyre threat to the throne.

Houses by Allegiance

Loyalist (Targaryen supporters)

Rebels (Blackfyre supporters)

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Blackfyre_Rebellion#Blackfyre_Rebellion.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Blackfyre_Rebellion#Blackfyre_Rebellion.
As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.