Aerys I Targaryen
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|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aerys I, by Amok © | ||||
| Monarch | ||||
| Reign | 209–221 AC | |||
| Full name | Aerys Targaryen the First of His Name | |||
| Titles | ||||
| Predecessor | Daeron II Targaryen | |||
| Heirs |
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| Successor | Maekar I Targaryen | |||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Born |
172–177 AC[1] King's Landing | |||
| Died | 221 AC | |||
| Family | ||||
| Dynasty | House Targaryen | |||
| Queen | Aelinor Penrose | |||
| Issue | None | |||
| Father | Daeron II Targaryen | |||
| Mother | Myriah Martell | |||
| References | ||||
| Books |
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Aerys I Targaryen was Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and the thirteenth Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne. He succeeded his father, King Daeron II Targaryen.[2]
Contents
Appearance and Character
According to semi-canon sources, Aerys was spindly and stooped, with long, straight hair. He had a long, thin face, a long, thin mustache and a long pointed beard, and his eyes were often red-rimmed from reading. Aerys wore the crown of his grandfather, King Aegon IV Targaryen.[3] On his coinage, he was depicted with a beard.[4]
Raymun Fossoway believed that Aerys was more clever than his youngest brother, Maekar Targaryen.[5] As king, Aerys was a bookish man who preferred reading to ruling, and it was said in the Seven Kingdoms that "Aerys would sooner bring a book to his bed rather than his wife".[6] His obsession with reading made him forgetful of other tasks, such as changing his clothes or donning his crown.[3]
History
Aerys was the second son of King Daeron II Targaryen and Queen Myriah Martell.[7] Ser Quentyn Ball, the master-at-arms of the Red Keep, taught Aerys and his brothers how to fight.[4] However, Aerys lacked martial prowess.[5] From an early age Aerys was obsessed[8] with books about ancient prophecy and the higher mysteries.[9] At some point, Aerys read a prophecy that spoke about the return of dragons.[4] Aerys and his younger brother Rhaegel seldom left the court, leading their father to pass the castle of Summerhall instead to their youngest brother, Maekar.[10]
Aerys was married to his cousin, Lady Aelinor Penrose, but he never showed any interest in getting her with child, instead shunning her bed. According to rumor, Aerys did not even consummate the marriage.[9][6]
Reign
Aerys became king in 209 AC, following the death of his father, King Daeron II Targaryen, and Daeron's immediate heirs, Princes Valarr and Matarys, in the Great Spring Sickness. The plague continued for some time under his rule.[9]
Upon becoming king, Aerys I appointed his uncle, Brynden Rivers, known as Bloodraven, as Hand of the King and let him rule while he occupied himself with the study of books and lore.[6] A new Grand Maester was also elected, and said to be involved in sorcery.[6] As Aerys had not yet fathered a child on his wife Aelinor, his small council, hoping that Aerys shunned her bed because he disliked her, urged Aerys to set Aelinor aside and take another wife. Aerys would not hear of it, however, and they remained married.[9]
The start of Aery's reign suffered a great drought that lasted more than a year.[6] It was widely held that travel was less safe during the reign of Aerys than under his father's.[4]
Aerys's reign was furthermore troubled by war. In 212 AC Dagon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, led the ironborn in raiding Fair Isle, the Arbor, and the north.[4] That same year, Lord Gormon Peake, a Blackfyre loyalist, brought Daemon II Blackfyre to the Seven Kingdoms from across the narrow sea and attempted to gather support for an insurrection, the Second Blackfyre Rebellion. Thanks to Bloodraven's network of spies and the actions of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Prince Aegon Targaryen, this rebellion ended at the Whitewalls tourney with relatively little bloodshed.[4][9]
The Third Blackfyre Rebellion was launched in 219 AC and ended with the capture of Ser Aegor Rivers, known as Bittersteel, and the death of Haegon I Blackfyre. Aegor was brought to King's Landing in chains and while Bloodraven and Prince Aerion Targaryen wanted him put to death, King Aerys sentenced him to take the black instead. Bittersteel's allies rescued him during the journey north, however, and Aegor returned to the Golden Company and soon crowned Daemon III Blackfyre in Tyrosh in opposition to Aerys.[9]
Throughout his reign, Aerys acknowledged four different heirs. First was his brother, Prince Rhaegel Targaryen, who died in 215 AC when he choked on a lamprey pie.[9] Aerys next acknowledged Rhaegel's only son, Prince Aelor Targaryen, as his heir, but Aelor died in 217 AC during a mishap caused by his twin sister and wife, Princess Aelora Targaryen.[9] Aerys's third heir was Aelora,[11] who was was mad with grief following Aelor's death. Aelora committed suicide after an incident with the the Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig, leaving Aerys to recognize his fourth and last heir to the throne, his youngest brother, Prince Maekar Targaryen.[9]
When Aerys died of natural causes in 221 AC, he was succeeded as king by Maekar I.[9][12]
Recent Events
A Clash of Kings
While explaining the lineage of Maester Aemon to Jon Snow, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont tells him about Aerys. He explains that Aerys unexpectedly succeeded his father as king after the deaths of his older brother and nephews. Jon initially thinks he means the second Aerys, but Lord Mormont explains this is the first Aerys who ruled about eighty years ago. He mistakenly relates that Aerys wed a sister in the Targaryen tradition,[13] though he actually wed a cousin,[14] and then died without issue.[13]
A Feast for Crows
Ser Jaime Lannister recalls that his brother Tyrion had found portraits of all of the kings from House Targaryen in Darry's cellar; Ser Raymun Darry had removed the tapestries for King Robert I Baratheon's visit to the castle.[15]
After learning of the death of Maester Aemon, Aerys's nephew, at the age of 102, Alleras tells Samwell Tarly that they could have learned much from him about the reigns of both Aemon's father and uncle.[16]
A Dance with Dragons
Victarion Greyjoy recalls the raiding of Lord Dagon Greyjoy during Aerys's reign, who he considered a weak king.[17]
Quotes
His Grace cares more for old scrolls and dusty prophecies than for lords and laws. He will not even bestir himself to sire an heir. Queen Aelinor prays daily at the Great Sept, beseeching the Mother Above to bless her with a child, yet she remains a maid. Aerys keeps his own apartments, and it is said he would sooner take a book to bed than any woman.[6]
In Dagon's day a weak king sat the Iron Throne, his rheumy eyes fixed across the narrow sea where bastards and exiles plotted rebellion. So forth from Pyke Lord Dagon sailed, to make the Sunset Sea his own.[17]
—thoughts of Victarion Greyjoy
Family
| Daeron II | Myriah Martell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baelor | Jena Dondarrion | Aerys I | Aelinor Penrose | Rhaegel | Alys Arryn | Maekar I | Dyanna Dayne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Valarr | Kiera of Tyrosh [Note 1] | Matarys | Aelora | Aelor | Daenora | Aerion | Daeron | Kiera of Tyrosh [Note 1] | Aemon | Daella | Aegon V | Rhae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stillborn sons | Maegor | Vaella | Unknown descendants |  | Unknown descendants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes: |
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References
- ↑ See the Aerys I Targaryen calculation.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 So Spake Martin: Targaryen Kings, November 1, 2005
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 The Mystery Knight.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Hedge Knight.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Targaryen Lineage.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Aerys I Targaryen.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys I.
- ↑ So Spake Martin: Summerhall, June 19, 1999
- ↑ asoiaf.westeros.org: R+L=J v.164 – Comment by Ran, December 12, 2017
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Maekar I.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 6, Jon I.
- ↑ A Forum of Ice and Fire: [TWOIAF Spoilers] Inconsistency or Intentional? (October 28, 2014).
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 63, Victarion I.