| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait of Baelor I, by Amok © | ||||
| Monarch | ||||
| Reign | 161–171 AC | |||
| Full name | Baelor Targaryen the First of His Name | |||
| Titles | ||||
| Predecessor | Daeron I Targaryen | |||
| Successor | Viserys II Targaryen | |||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Aliases | ||||
| Born |
144 AC[5] King's Landing[6] | |||
| Died |
early 171 AC King's Landing[6] | |||
| Family | ||||
| Dynasty | House Targaryen | |||
| Queen | Daena Targaryen (marriage later dissolved) | |||
| Issue | None | |||
| Father | Aegon III Targaryen | |||
| Mother | Daenaera Velaryon | |||
| References | ||||
| Books |
| |||
Baelor I Targaryen, known as Baelor the Beloved and Baelor the Blessed, was the ninth Targaryen king to reign on the Iron Throne as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. Known for his piety, Baelor was a septon as well as a king.[2] He was the second son of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon, and ruled after the death of his older brother, King Daeron I Targaryen.
Appearance and Character
[edit]Baelor was very thin (due to his repeated fasts) and frail-looking. He had a gentle, almost beatific smile,[7] and a reedy voice.[8] Baelor had long hair, in a typical Targaryen silver-gold color, and wore a beard.[7]
Baelor was peaceful,[9] pious,[10] and saintly.[11] Not a martial man, his favorite "weapon" was a prayer.[9]
Baelor's crown was made of flowers and vines. He wore white septon's robes tied off with a rope belt.[7]
History
[edit]Early life
[edit]Prince Baelor was born in 144 AC, the second child of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon. He had an older brother, Prince Daeron, and three younger sisters, the princesses Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena. Baelor's uncle, Prince Viserys, served as Aegon's Hand of the King, and he had three children, Prince Aegon, Prince Aemon, and Princess Naerys. In 157 AC, King Aegon III Targaryen died of consumption,[12] and his eldest son Daeron took the throne. Prince Viserys continued to serve as Daeron's Hand, ruling in King's Landing while Daeron led a conquest of Dorne.[13]
In 160 AC, Baelor married his sister, Princess Daena, when he was sixteen and she was fifteen.[8] However, he refused to consummate their marriage.[14][8] In an attempt to shame him, Daena, who usually dressed all in black, swore to wear nothing but white until she was properly bedded. The plan did not work, as Baelor liked to see his sister all in white, feeling that it made her look more innocent.[15]
Baelor and Dorne
[edit].jpg)
In 161 AC, Baelor's older brother, King Daeron I Targaryen, was killed in Dorne. Baelor was crowned king and ascended the Iron Throne at the age of seventeen. His uncle, Prince Viserys Targaryen, acting as Hand of the King, had sent fourteen Dornish hostages to the dungeons to await execution. Baelor's first act was to pardon the hostages and publicly forgive his brother's killers, despite outcry from his lords and council. Many similar acts of piety and forgiveness occurred throughout his ten-year reign.[8]
Baelor desired to "bind up the wounds" of his brother's war, and chose to personally return the hostages to Dorne. The new king walked the Boneway barefoot and clad in sackcloth, while the hostages rode horses. The journey took Baelor to the location where House Wyl had imprisoned Baelor's cousin, Prince Aemon Targaryen of the Kingsguard. Baelor pleaded to Lord Wyl to free the naked and caged Aemon, but was refused. Offering a prayer and a promise that he would return, Baelor continued his journey.[8]
Baelor arrived at Sunspear after an arduous journey through the desert, which was considered the first miracle of his reign. Baelor forged a peace with the Prince of Dorne, which was considered the second miracle. Part of the agreement was that Baelor's young cousin, Prince Daeron, the only grandson of his uncle and Hand, Prince Viserys, would marry the eldest daughter of the Prince of Dorne, Princess Myriah Martell, when both children were of age. Baelor refused the prince's offer of a galley back to King's Landing, insisting that the Seven had commanded him to walk. The prince made efforts to ensure that Baelor would be met with hospitality on his way back, in hopes that he would not die upon the road and thus begin the war again. Special attention was paid to Lord Wyl, as Baelor had requested the Prince of Dorne to command Aemon's release.[8]
Yet, when Baelor returned to Aemon's location, his cousin's imprisonment had gotten worse, as his cage was now suspended over a pit of vipers. Instead of freeing Aemon as the Prince of Dorne had commanded, Lord Wyl only granted Baelor a key to Aemon's cage. Aemon begged Baelor to leave and seek aid in the Dornish Marches, but Baelor smiled and said the gods would protect him, then stepped into the pit. While singers like to say the vipers bowed their heads to Baelor as he passed, not daring to strike because he was pure and holy,[16] Baelor was indeed bitten on his way to open the cage, though sources differ on how often, ranging from half a dozen[8] to half a hundred times.[16] Aemon pulled Baelor from the pit into the cage, climbed to the top and leapt to safety with the king upon his back, while the Wyls offered wagers on their survival.[8]
Aemon carried the unconscious king halfway down the Boneway until they reached a village in the Red Mountains, where a septon gave him clothing and a donkey to carry Baelor. Eventually, Aemon reached the safety of Blackhaven, where House Dondarrion's maester treated Baelor as well as he could, before sending them on to House Baratheon at Storm's End. On the way to Storm's End, Baelor briefly regained consciousness, but only muttered prayers. It was more than six months before Baelor was well enough to return to King's Landing, and during that time, Prince Viserys ruled as Hand of the King, while maintaining Baelor's treaty with Dorne.[8]
Baelor in King's Landing
[edit]
The realm celebrated when Baelor finally returned to King's Landing and took the Iron Throne. However, many of his decrees bewildered those who were used to previous rulers. The first thing Baelor did was convince the High Septon to dissolve his marriage to his sister Daena, since it had been contracted before he had become king and was never consummated.[17][8] Baelor then imprisoned his sisters—Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena—in their own "Court of Beauty" in the Red Keep, a building later called the Maidenvault. Baelor wanted to preserve the innocence of his sisters from the wickedness of the world, and from the lusts of men,[15][8] and prevent them from tempting the men at court with carnal thoughts,[18][19] though there were people who wondered whether or not Baelor feared the beauty of his sisters on his own behalf. Many protested their imprisonment, including the Hand Viserys, the princesses themselves, and other members at court, but Baelor would not relent.[8] The eleven-year-old Elaena even cut her hair, her "crowning glory", and sent it to Baelor, hoping that if she rid herself of her beauty, he would allow her out of the Maidenvault, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.[15] The three princesses were kept in comfortable confinement, and to gain favor with Baelor, lords and knights sent their maiden relatives to the Maidenvault to be their lady companions.[8]
Baelor next decreed prostitution to be outlawed in King's Landing, refusing to acknowledge his counselors who told him how much trouble that would cause. He expelled more than a thousand whores and their children out of the city,[8] and the histories state that he prayed for them as they were driven from the city gates, but would not look at them.[10] Baelor further ignored the unrest that followed, and busied himself with building a new sept on Visenya's Hill, which he said he had seen in a vision. The construction of this great sept would not be completed until years after Baelor's death. Baelor also took a septon's vows, to make sure he would never marry again, and the High Septon gained increasing influence over the spiritually-inclined king.[8]
The smallfolk loved Baelor, as the king emptied the treasury regularly for his charitable acts, such as when he donated a loaf of bread to each man and woman in the city for a year. However, Baelor's erratic decisions made his lords uneasy, wondering if the snake venom had affected his mind.[8][16] He tried to replace messenger ravens with doves, as described in Maester Walgrave's Black Wings, Swift Words. Baelor attempted to grant tax exemptions to lords who protected their daughters' virtue through chastity belts.[8] He tried to deal with the issue of the death of the Targaryen dragons by praying over his dragon egg for half a year, but his prayers went unanswered.[19] Baelor earned the contempt of his nobles by forcing the proud Lord Belgrave to wash the ulcerous feet of a beggar.[20]
Baelor had many books burned, including nearly all copies of The Testimony of Mushroom by Mushroom, for its ribald and scandalous content.[8] He also ordered the burning of Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History by Septon Barth, even though much of the book's contents were not controversial nor sinful, but because Barth's study and alleged practice of the higher mysteries won Baelor's enmity. Only fragments have survived.[21][8]
When Baelor's cousin, Princess Naerys, gave birth to twins who both died shortly after their delivery in 161 AC, the king fasted for a moon's turn.[8] Baelor also sent Naerys's husband, Prince Aegon, to Braavos on a diplomatic mission. Accounts at the time suggest it was an excuse to make sure Aegon left Naerys alone as she recovered from the difficult childbirth.[22]
Baelor had arranged the betrothal of his cousin, Prince Daeron, to Princess Myriah Martell of Dorne as part of a dual marriage pact between the two kingdoms to make peace.[23] Baelor officiated the marriage when they came of age.[9] In 170 AC[24] Daeron and Myriah had their first son, whom they named Baelor[25] in Baelor the Blessed's honor.
When the High Septon died, Baelor informed the Most Devout that the Seven had revealed the new High Septon's identity to him, a simple stonemason called Pate. Pate carved stonework so beautifully that Baelor believed him to be the Smith in human form. However, this new High Septon could not read or write, or recite any prayers, and was described as a lackwit. He died of a fever the next year, and rumor spread that Viserys had him poisoned to end the embarrassment to the realm. Baelor then raised an eight-year-old street urchin to the position, claiming he had seen the boy perform miracles.[26][8]
Death
[edit]
Towards the end of his reign, Baelor would fast to the point of fainting to tame the lusts that shamed him.[17][8] In 170 AC, Baelor's sister and former wife, Daena, gave birth to a bastard she named Daemon Waters, and refused to name his father. Baelor fasted for forty days and nights, refusing to take anything but water and some bread. On the forty-first day of his fast, in 171 AC, the king collapsed, and neither Grand Maester Munkun or the boy High Septon could save him.[8]
History says Baelor starved himself to death by the prolonged fasting, but some believe he was poisoned by his Hand and uncle, Viserys.[16] Some follow the writings of Lady Maia Stokeworth and claim Viserys did so to gain the throne after more than a decade of waiting. However, others claim Viserys killed him for the good of the realm, as Baelor had come to believe that the Seven wanted him to convert all the non-believers in Westeros. Had Baelor been able to put these beliefs into action, a war with the old gods-following north and the Drowned God-worshiping Iron Islands would have broken out.[8]
After Baelor's death in 171 AC, his sisters were freed from the Maidenvault. There were some amongst the smallfolk and the lords who felt that the Iron Throne should now pass to Daena, as she was King Aegon III Targaryen's eldest surviving child. However, Daena had been isolated for a decade in the Maidenvault, which had left her and her sisters without powerful allies. In addition, the memories of the Dance of the Dragons and of Rhaenyra Targaryen, the last woman to sit the Iron Throne, left many leery of the idea of a ruling queen. As well, Daena was seen by many as being wild, unmanageable, and wanton, due to her giving birth to her bastard son Daemon the year before, while still refusing to name the father. The precedents of the Great Council of 101 AC and the Dance were cited, and the claims of Daena and her sisters were set aside. The crown passed to their uncle, who took the throne as King Viserys II Targaryen. However, Viserys only ruled for a little more than a year before he died from a sudden illness in 172 AC, and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Aegon IV Targaryen.[27]
Legacy
[edit]
None of the other Targaryen kings are as beloved as Baelor. He is remembered for loving the smallfolk and the gods in equal parts, yet also for imprisoning his own sisters in the Maidenvault.[10] Some remember him as a great and holy man and praise him for his contributions to the Faith of the Seven, for forging a peace with Dorne, for his mercy and his many acts of charity.[16] Baelor is also remembered for his patient endurance,[28] and his brave yet innocent soul.[14] Princess Rhaena Targaryen was greatly influenced by her brother and became very pious as well.[15]
Others are less impressed by Baelor, however, believing him to be an overly zealous weak fool, who spent all his time praying[16] and starved himself into an early grave.[14] Ser Eustace Osgrey considered Baelor to be the feeblest king to sit the Iron Throne.[29] "Baelor the Blessed" is also used as a disparaging term to mean a prudish man,[1] and sometimes to sarcastically refer to a pure and innocent person.[30]
The Great Sept of Baelor was completed years after his death,[8] and a marble statue of the king was placed in the plaza in front of the building.[2] Baelor's statue stands tall and serene upon a plinth, his face a study of benevolence.[10] After Dorne joined the Seven Kingdoms in 187 AC with the wedding of Maron Martell and Daenerys Targaryen, King Daeron II Targaryen and Maron Martell, Prince of Dorne, came to the plaza together to lay a golden wreath at the statue's foot, and proclaimed, "Baelor, your work is done."[31]
Daeron's son, Prince Baelor Breakspear, was named after Baelor the Blessed.[29] Grand Maester Kaeth wrote the well-regarded work Lives of Four Kings, a detailed history of the reigns of Daeron I, Baelor I, Aegon IV, and Daeron II.[16]
When Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was young, he was a bookish boy, uninterested in playing with other children or martial activities. Maesters were impressed by his intelligence, but King Aerys II Targaryen's knights bitterly joked that Baelor the Blessed had been born again.[32]
When Cersei Lannister learned that Baelor imprisoned his sisters for no crime but their beauty, she pinched her infant brother Tyrion until he cried.[26] Tyrion has joked that Baelor was terrified of his own cock.[10]
Recent Events
[edit]A Game of Thrones
[edit]
Lord Eddard Stark falsely confesses to treason in front of the Great Sept of Baelor, calling upon High Septon and Baelor the Beloved and the Seven to witness that King Joffrey I Baratheon is the true heir to the Iron Throne. Eddard's daughter, Arya Stark, watches from atop the plinth of Baelor's statue, between the king's marble feet. Eddard is supposed to be sent to the Night's Watch; however, Joffrey orders his execution, to the shock and dismay of the witnesses.[2]
A Storm of Swords
[edit]Sansa Stark visits the Maidenvault for a supper with Margaery Tyrell, and recalls that the keep received its name after King Baelor the Blessed confined his sisters within it.[18]
When Selyse Florent tries to convince Stannis Baratheon to allow Melisandre to perform a ritual they claim will birth a dragon, Stannis lists various tragedies and failures of those who sought to bring back dragons, including Baelor praying over his dragon egg to no result.[19]
At King Joffrey's wedding to Margaery Tyrell, his uncle Tyrion Lannister gifts him a rare illuminated copy of Grand Maester Kaeth's Lives of Four Kings, but Joffrey wantonly destroys it. Afterwards, Tyrion and Oberyn Martell discuss the contents of the book and the rumor that Baelor was poisoned by his uncle and Hand Viserys. They also speak with Sansa Stark and Ellaria Sand about Baelor's rescue of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight.[16]
A Feast for Crows
[edit]
Ser Arys Oakheart, drawn close to Arianne Martell, thinks about how Baelor the Blessed would fast to the point of fainting to tame his lusts, and wonders if he should do the same.[17]
Young King Tommen I Baratheon learns about Baelor in his lessons with Grand Maester Pycelle.[33]
Sparrows gather in the Great Sept's plaza and beneath its doors, piling up the bones and skulls of their martyrs beneath the statue of Baelor the Blessed.[26] On the way to the Great Sept, Queen Regent Cersei Lannister tells Lady Taena Merryweather about the unusual High Septons that King Baelor chose for the office. She later thinks that if the new one, the so-called High Sparrow, continues to annoy her, she may deal with him as Baelor was served by his Hand, VIserys II. When Cersei confronts the High Sparrow about the befouling of Baelor's Sept and statue, he states it was first befouled by the execution of Eddard Stark, and that Baelor forgave those who conspired against him.[26]
Ser Jaime Lannister thinks of the prudish and devout Bonifer Hasty as "Baelor Butthole".[34] Jaime 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. Jaime confronts his cousin, Lord Lancel Lannister, who has been fasting out of guilt for his sins. Lancel, who has decided to renounce Darry, claims that the Seven sent him visions, and Jaime thinks about how Baelor also had visions while he was fasting, and that his fasts eventually killed him. When Ser Lancel tells Jaime he is dissolving his unconsummated marriage to Amerei Frey, as Baelor did with his wife Daena, Jaime states that Westeros would have been better off if Baelor had slept with her.[14]
A Dance with Dragons
[edit]Tyrion Lannister thinks of the king as Baelor the Befuddled,[4] and recalls how Baelor had the writings of Septon Barth destroyed, except for a few surviving fragments.[21]
In the Lazy Eel in White Harbor, Davos Seaworth overhears the patrons discussing the death of the pretender king Viserys Targaryen, which one man finds doubtful because none of them saw his body. The Eel's proprietor scorns this, saying that none of them have seen the bodies of any of the lately dead kings, so perhaps they are alive too, even Baelor the Blessed. The patrons then try to recall the name of Viserys's sister, Daenerys Targaryen, thinking at first it was Daena, like Baelor's queen, and one mentions how Baelor imprisoned his sisters in the Maidenvault.[35]
Ser Barristan Selmy tells Daenerys, Queen of Meereen, that no ruler can make their people good, citing the example of Baelor, whose prayers and great works did not end war and poverty.[36]
Cersei Lannister, during her walk of atonement from the Great Sept to the Red Keep, passes Baelor's statue.[10]
Quotes
[edit]
There's sometimes a fine line between madness and greatness. Daeron I, the boy king who led a war of conquest, and even the saintly Baelor I could also be considered "mad," if seen in a different light.[11]
Tyrion: Baelor starved himself to death, fasting. His uncle served him loyally as Hand, as he had served the Young Dragon before him. Viserys might only have reigned a year, but he ruled for fifteen, while Daeron warred and Baelor prayed. And if he did remove his nephew, can you blame him? Someone had to save the realm from Baelor's follies.
Sansa: But Baelor the Blessed was a great king. He walked the Boneway barefoot to make peace with Dorne, and rescued the Dragonknight from a snakepit. The vipers refused to strike him because he was so pure and holy.
Oberyn: If you were a viper, my lady, would you want to bite a bloodless stick like Baelor the Blessed?
Ellaria: My prince is playing with you, Lady Sansa. The septons and singers like to say that the snakes did not bite Baelor, but the truth is very different. He was bitten half a hundred times, and should have died from it.[16]
Lancel: Marriage requires consummation. King Baelor was made to wed his sister Daena, but they never lived as man and wife, and he put her aside as soon as he was crowned.
Jaime: The realm would have been better served if he had closed his eyes and fucked her. I know enough of history to know that. In any case, you're not like to be taken for Baelor the Blessed.
Lancel: No. He was a rare spirit, pure and brave and innocent, untouched by the evils of the world. I am a sinner, with much and more to atone for.[14]
Oarsman: Daena was old King Baelor's wife. I rowed on a ship named for her once. The Princess Daena.
Riverman: If she was a king's wife, she'd be a queen.
Oarsman: Baelor never had a queen. He was holy.
Whore: Don't mean he never wed his sister. He just never bedded her, is all. When they made him king, he locked her up in a tower. His other sisters too. There was three.[35]—the patrons of the Lazy Eel
Their path took them past the statue of Baelor the Blessed, standing tall and serene upon his plinth, his face a study in benevolence. To look at him, you would never guess what a fool he'd been.[10]
—thoughts of Cersei Lannister
The Targaryen dynasty had produced kings both bad and good, but none as beloved as Baelor, that pious gentle septon-king who loved the smallfolk and the gods in equal parts, yet imprisoned his own sisters. It was a wonder that his statue did not crumble at the sight of her bare breasts.[10]
—thoughts of Cersei Lannister
Family
[edit]
Behind the Scenes
[edit]Baelor the Blessed is inspired by King Louis IX of France, also known as Saint Louis.[37] George R.R. Martin has also stated Baelor's appearance was reminiscent of depictions of Jesus.[7]
When asked why Baelor did not reform the Faith Militant and re-arm the Faith of the Seven, Martin replied that Baelor was a peaceful man who would have preferred to disarm the world.[9]
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 12, Eddard II.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 65, Arya V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 43, Cersei X.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
- ↑ See the Baelor I Targaryen calculation.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Baelor I Targaryen.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 So Spake Martin: Targaryen Kings (November 1, 2005).
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 8.19 8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23 8.24 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 So Spake Martin: Targaryen History (April 21, 2008).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 65, Cersei II.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 So Spake Martin: Egg and the Targaryens (November 5, 1998).
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron I.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 So Spake Martin: Three Maidens in the Tower (June 27, 2006).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 59, Sansa IV.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 6, Sansa I.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 14, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ See the Baelor Targaryen calculation.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Targaryen Lineage.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Viserys II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 39, Arya VII.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 8, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 27, Jaime III.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 15, Davos II.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 36, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ La Garde de Nuit: An evening with George R. R. Martin in London (August 15, 2019)