Joffrey Velaryon

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House Velaryon.svg Prince
Joffrey Velaryon
House Targaryen.svg
Joffrey Velaryon.jpg
Joffrey in childhood, by Douglas Wheatley, as depicted in The World of Ice & Fire.

Alias Joff[1]
Title Prince of Dragonstone[2]
Allegiances
Race Valyrian
Culture Crownlands
Born In 117 AC[3]Dragonstone[3]
Died In 130 AC[4]Flea Bottom[4]
Fathers
Mother Rhaenyra Targaryen
Books

TV series House of the Dragon: Season 1 | 2

Prince Joffrey Velaryon, also known as Joff, was the thirdborn son of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and her first husband, Ser Laenor Velaryon.[1][2] He was a dragonrider whose dragon was Tyraxes.[2]

Appearance and Character

Joff was a strapping lad. Like his brothers Jacaerys and Lucerys, he had brown eyes and hair, and a pug nose. This caused many at court to suspect that Ser Harwin Strong was their true father.[1][5]

History

He was named after his father's favorite knight and companion, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth.[1]

When Joffrey was three years old, his ten-year-old dragonless half-uncle, Prince Aemond Targaryen, slapped him in an attempt to claim Vhagar for himself. Joffrey called for his two older brothers, and in the ensuing fight, Aemond lost an eye.[1]

Joffrey was eleven years old at the start of the civil war which became known as the Dance of the Dragons. He asked to ride Tyraxes and help call the lords of the realm to his mother's claim, but was denied on account of his age. However, his elder brothers went forth, and Jacaerys arranged his betrothal to the youngest daughter of Lord Desmond Manderly in exchange for White Harbor's support for the blacks. After learning that Lucerys had died in the Dance over Shipbreaker Bay, Joffrey swore a terrible oath of vengeance against Prince Aemond and Lord Borros Baratheon, and only his grandparents, Lord Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, kept him from mounting his own dragon at once.[6]

Jacaerys ordered Joff to Gulltown to defend the Vale of Arryn against King Aegon II Targaryen's dragons, with Rhaena Targaryen chosen to accompany him. Grand Maester Munkun suggests that it was Jacaerys's desire to keep his brother far away from the fighting.[2] He was named the Prince of Dragonstone after the death of Jacaerys at the Battle of the Gullet.[7] After the Fall of King's Landing, Rhaenyra felt secure enough to send for her sons, and a fleet set out from Gulltown with Joffrey. His mother planned a lavish celebration for Joffrey's formal installation as Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne.[8]

Joffrey was eager to prove himself as a warrior and defeat the armies of the greens, but swore solemnly to help his mother hold the Red Keep in the event of an attack when told to remain in the city with Tyraxes. During the Storming of the Dragonpit, he donned squire's armor and begged the queen to let him ride to the Dragonpit and mount Tyraxes, but she forbade him from leaving the castle out of her grief for his brothers' deaths. When the Shepherd and his savage flock began to march on the Dragonpit, he pleaded with his mother to let him ride forth with knights, anxious for the life of his own dragon, though Rhaenyra refused to believe that such rabble would be able to kill the dragons. Mushroom claims to have seen Joffrey sulking off, but to have held his tongue. In haste to be away before he could be stopped, Joffrey vaulted onto Syrax without benefit of a saddle or whip, never having ridden her before. When the watchers on the roof heard Syrax's roar, they realized that Joffrey was missing, and the queen sent the knights later known as the Seven Who Rode after the prince, demanding that they bring him back, as he "did not know". Once in the air, Syrax twisted beneath him, fighting to be free of her unfamiliar rider, and stones and spears flew at him from the Shepherd's lambs below. He plunged down into Flea Bottom from two hundred feet above, crashing into a steep-pitched roof before rolling off to fall another forty feet amidst a shower of broken tiles. The fall broke his back, shards of slate rained down him like knives, and his own sword tore loose from his hand and pierced him through the belly. According to legend, a candlemaker's daughter named Robin comforted him as he died, and his last words were "Mother, forgive me," with debate over whether he was speaking of Rhaenyra or the Mother Above.[4]

The mob descended on Joffrey's corpse, and looters tore the boots from his feet and the sword from his belly. More savage rioters tore at his body, cutting off his hands so that the rings on his fingers may be claimed; his right foot was hacked through the ankle, and a butcher's apprentice was sawing at his neck to claim his head when the seven knights arrived. His remains were reclaimed, aside from his foot, although Ser Gyles Yronwood, Ser Willam Royce, and Lord Commander Glendon Goode were killed trying to retrieve the body. His half-brother, Aegon the Younger, became his mother's heir following his death.[4]

Quotes by Joffrey

I want to fight for you, Mother, as my brothers did. Let me prove that I am as brave as they were.[2]

—Joffrey to Rhaenyra Targaryen

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jocelyn
Baratheon
 
Aemon
 
Daella
 
Rodrik
Arryn
 
Baelon
 
Alyssa
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Corlys
Velaryon
 
Rhaenys
 
 
 
 
 
Aemma
Arryn
 
Viserys I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alicent
Hightower
 
Daemon
[Note 1]
 
Rhea
Royce
 
Aegon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Laena
Velaryon
 
Daemon
[Note 1]
 
Laenor
Velaryon
 
Rhaenyra
 
Daemon
[Note 1]
 
Son
 
Baelon
 
Aegon II
 
Helaena
 
Aemond
 
Daeron
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaena
 
Baela
 
Stillborn
son
 
Jacaerys
Velaryon
 
Lucerys
Velaryon
 
Joffrey
Velaryon
 
Viserys II
 
Visenya
 
Aegon III
 
Jaehaera
 
Jaehaerys
 
Maelor
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notes:
  1. 1.0 1.1 Prince Daemon Targaryen was married to Lady Rhea Royce from 97 AC to 115 AC, to Lady Laena Velaryon from 115 AC to 120 AC, and to Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen from 120 AC to 130 AC.


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Rogue Prince.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Princess and the Queen.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown.
  5. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Viserys I.
  6. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
  7. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon II.
  8. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant.
Preceded by 7th Prince of Dragonstone
130 AC
Succeeded by