Editing Vhagar (section)

==History==
Vhagar hatched from a [[dragon egg]] on [[Dragonstone]] during the [[Century of Blood]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}} She was named after [[Vhagar (god)|a god]] of the [[Valyrian Freehold]].{{Ref|ACOK|11}}

At some point, Vhagar was claimed by [[Visenya Targaryen]]. Visenya first rode Vhagar, demonstrating she was a [[dragonrider]], some time before she married her brother, [[Aegon I Targaryen|Aegon]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}

===Aegon's Conquest===
[[File:The queen and vhagar by silvaticus-d94j1f8.jpg|thumb|400px|Vhagar and her rider, Queen [[Visenya Targaryen]], by [http://silvaticus.deviantart.com Silvaticus] ©]]
After Aegon [[Aegon's Landing|landed]] on [[Westeros]] and began his [[Aegon's Conquest|conquest]], Visenya flew Vhagar to [[Stokeworth]], where crossbowmen loosed bolts until the dragon set the roofs of the castle keep ablaze. Following Aegon's first coronation, Visenya, upon Vhagar, accompanied the Targaryen fleet, commanded by [[Daemon Velaryon]], to take [[Gulltown]]. In the [[battle in the waters off Gulltown]], the [[House Arryn|Arryn]] fleet defeated the [[House Targaryen|Targaryen]] fleet, sinking one-third of the ships and capturing near as many. Then, Visenya descended, and burned the ships of the Arryn fleet.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}

Visenya then flew to [[Crackclaw Point]] with Vhagar, to accept many pledges of fealty from the local lords. She then flew Vhagar to [[Stoney Sept]] to link up with her siblings, their dragons, and Aegon's army. They advanced south, where all three dragons took part in the decisive [[Field of Fire]] &ndash; the only battle in which all three of the Targaryen dragons took to the sky at the same time during Aegon's Conquest. Together, Vhagar, Meraxes, and Balerion killed four thousand men, burning them alive. King [[Mern IX Gardener]] died, and with him [[House Gardener]]. The army was broken, and House Targaryen was victorious.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}{{Ref|AGOT|13}} 

Visenya next flew Vhagar to the [[Trident]] in the [[riverlands]], where she met with her brother and sister and their dragons, to face [[King in the North]] [[Torrhen Stark]]. [[Brandon Snow]], the [[bastard]] brother of Torrhen, offered to sneak into the Targaryen camp at night to slay the dragons, but the northern king refused the attempt, and instead sent his brother as an envoy, eventually bending the knee to the Targaryens.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}

Afterwards, Visenya flew Vhagar back to the Vale, where she landed with her dragon in the inner courtyard of the [[Eyrie]]. When Dowager Queen [[Sharra Arryn]] reached the courtyard she found her young son, King [[Ronnel Arryn (king)|Ronnel Arryn]], sitting on Visenya's knee, staring with wonder at Vhagar. The young king begged his mother for a ride on Vhagar's back. Sharra bent her knee and surrendered, and Ronnel rode on Vhagar thrice about the summit of the [[Giant's Lance]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}

===First Dornish War===
Following the deaths of Rhaenys and Meraxes in {{Date|10}} at [[Hellholt]] in [[Dorne]], Visenya and Aegon burned every Dornish stronghold at least once (except [[Sunspear]] and its [[shadow city]]) during a two-year period known as the [[Dragon's Wroth]]. The Dornish tell a tale that the Targaryens refused to attack Sunspear because they were afraid that Princess [[Meria Martell]] had purchased a device from [[Lys]] to slay Vhagar and Balerion, but Archmaester [[Timotty]] suggests the Targaryens intended to turn the other Dornish houses against the Martells.{{Ref|TWOIAF|Dorne: Dorne Against the Dragons}}

===Aenys I and Maegor I===
[[File:Visenya_and_Vhagar_by_Paparinka_Art.jpg|thumb|right|475px|Vhagar and [[Visenya Targaryen]] by Paparinka Art]]
When King Aegon I died in {{Date|37}}, Vhagar supplied the flames to light the fire of his funeral pyre. In {{Date|41}}, when King [[Aenys I Targaryen]] named his eldest son and heir, Prince [[Aegon Targaryen (son of Aenys I)|Aegon]], the [[Prince of Dragonstone]] at his wedding, Visenya angrily left for [[Dragonstone]]. It was said that the moon turned as red as blood when Vhagar passed it.{{Ref|FAB|The Sons of the Dragon}}

Later that year, when King Aenys arrived at Dragonstone, fleeing the first rebels in the [[Faith Militant uprising]], Visenya asked him to grant her leave to take Vhagar and burn the [[Starry Sept]] in [[Oldtown]]. Aenys refused. When the king died early in {{Date|42}}, Visenya left Dragonstone within an hour of his death, and flew to [[Pentos]], where her son [[Maegor I Targaryen|Maegor]] lived in exile. After Maegor had claimed the crown on Dragonstone, Visenya accompanied him upon Vhagar and crossed [[Blackwater Bay]] to [[King's Landing]]. The return of both Vhagar and Balerion to King's Landing set off riots in the city.{{Ref|FAB|The Sons of the Dragon}}

Prior to Maegor's wedding to [[Tyanna of the Tower]], Visenya flew upon Vhagar to [[Driftmark]] to convince [[Alyssa Velaryon]] to appear at the wedding. When the [[Faith Militant]] continued to resist Maegor's reign, even after the losses they suffered at the [[Battle of Stonebridge]] and the [[Battle at the Great Fork]] of the [[Blackwater Rush|Blackwater]], Visenya mounted Vhagar and burned the seats of [[House Blanetree]], [[House Terrick]], [[House Deddings]], [[House Lychester]], and [[House Wayn]] in the [[Riverlands]] within a single night. Maegor flew Balerion to the [[westerlands]], burning the seats of [[House Broom]], [[House Doggett]], [[House Falwell]], [[House Lorch]], [[House Myatt]], and other "pious lords" who had defied his royal summons.{{Ref|FAB|The Sons of the Dragon}}

In {{Date|43}},{{refn|group="N"|Earlier prints of ''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'' erroneously state that this event and the death of the [[High Septon (Maegor I)|High Septon]] took place in {{Date|44}}.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reach: Oldtown}} ''[[The Sons of the Dragon]]'' gives the correct date of {{Date|43}}. [[Septon]] [[Pater]], the High Septon elected as a replacement, died a year later.}} Maegor and Visenya turned towards [[Oldtown]], threatening to incinerate the [[Starry Sept]] in response to the [[High Septon (Maegor I)|High Septon]]'s condemnation of his [[polygamy|polygamous marriages]]. Only the mysterious death of the High Septon, which allowed Lord [[Martyn Hightower]] to open his gates before Balerion and Vhagar, saved the city from dragonflame.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Reach: Oldtown}}{{Ref|FAB|The Sons of the Dragon}}

Visenya died on Dragonstone in {{Date|44}}, leaving Vhagar without a rider.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Targaryen Kings: Maegor I}}{{Ref|FAB|The Sons of the Dragon}}

===Reign of Jaehaerys I===
Vhagar remained unridden for twenty-nine years after Visenya's death, spending much of that time on [[Dragonstone]] and later taking residence in the [[Dragonpit]] in [[King's Landing]]. It was in {{Date|73}} that Prince [[Baelon Targaryen (son of Jaehaerys I)|Baelon the Brave]] after achieving knighthood, set out to follow his brother Prince [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Jaehaerys I)|Aemon]] and become a [[dragonrider]] claiming Vhagar. Vhagar along with [[Caraxes]] and [[Vermithor]] burned the [[Dorne|Dornish]] fleet that attempted to invade the [[Stormlands]] during the [[Fourth Dornish War]] in {{Date|83}}. After the death of Balerion of old age in {{Date|94}},{{Ref|TRP}} Vhagar became the last of the three Targaryen dragons who had fought in the Conquest.
Vhagar became riderless again, when Prince Baelon passed away in {{Date|101}}.{{Ref|FAB|The Long Reign - Jaehaerys & Alysanne:Policy, Progeny, and Pain}}

===Reign of Viserys I===
Vhagar's next known rider was Lady [[Laena Velaryon]], who had become a dragonrider before the age of twelve. According to the [[maester]] at [[Driftmark]], the seat of [[House Velaryon]], Laena loved to fly. When Laena wed Prince [[Daemon Targaryen]] in {{Date|115}}, they flew upon their dragons across the [[narrow sea]] to [[Pentos]], [[Volantis]], [[Qohor]], and [[Norvos]]. Everywhere they went, huge crowds came to catch a glimpse of Vhagar and [[Caraxes]], Daemon's dragon. After Laena gave birth in {{Date|116}}, Daemon brought both his own dragon and Vhagar back to Westeros. Laena and Daemon grew close with Daemon's niece, [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]], and the three often flew together upon their dragons, Vhagar, Caraxes, and [[Syrax]].{{Ref|TRP}}

Laena died early in {{Date|120}}. It is said that Laena attempted to reach Vhagar in her final hour as to fly one last time, but she did not have the strength. Following Laena's funeral on Driftmark, the ten-year old prince [[Aemond Targaryen]] claimed Vhagar as his own dragon.{{Ref|TRP}}

===Dance of the Dragons===
{{Main|Dance of the Dragons}}
[[File:Deaths of Lucerys and Arrax.jpg|thumb|400px|Aemond and Vhagar kill [[Lucerys Velaryon|Lucerys]] and [[Arrax]], by Chase Stone ©]]
By {{Date|129}}, Vhagar had grown nearly as big as Balerion had been during [[Aegon's Conquest]], and had become the largest living dragon of her time.{{Ref|ADWD|8}} Prince Aemond flew on Vhagar to [[Storm's End]], so they could win the support of Lord [[Borros Baratheon]] for King [[Aegon II Targaryen]]. There Aemond met with Prince [[Lucerys Velaryon]], at Storm's End hoping to gain support for his mother Queen [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]]. Aemond was forbidden from attacking Lucerys while both were in Borros's castle, but was allowed to follow him outside. After Lucerys rose into the sky on his dragon [[Arrax]], Aemond mounted Vhagar and followed the young prince. The two dragons fought during a great storm over [[Shipbreaker Bay]], and Vhagar quickly overcame Arrax, whose severed head would wash ashore days later, along with the corpse of Lucerys.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

Aemond would continue to fly Vhagar in battle during the civil war between King Aegon II and Queen Rhaenyra. During the [[battle at Rook's Rest]], Vhagar and Aemond, and King Aegon and [[Sunfyre]], ambushed the dragon [[Meleys]] and her rider Princess [[Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Aemon)|Rhaenys Targaryen]]. Meleys was an old and large dragon, and might have stood a chance against Vhagar alone, but died from the combined assault. Vhagar was the only dragon who left the battle reasonably unharmed.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

The battle against Meleys left Aegon II severely injured, leaving him incapable of rule, and Prince Aemond was appointed [[regent]]. Aemond decided that the main threat in the war was Prince [[Daemon Targaryen]], who was massing armies at [[Harrenhal]]. Aemond took Vhagar and most of the green forces from [[King's Landing]] north to attack Harrenhal, leaving King's Landing with very little defense. When Aemond and Vhagar arrived at Harrenhal, they found the castle undefended and empty, as Daemon had left some time before to attack King's Landing, after having lured Aemond and Vhagar away from the capital.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

After the [[Fall of King's Landing]], Prince Aemond and [[Hand of the King]] [[Criston Cole]] no longer agreed on how to proceed during the war. Aemond took Vhagar on a one-man war of revenge. They burned much of the [[riverlands]], starting with every wooden structure in Harrenhal. Vhagar caused more destruction than an entire army, and severely harmed Rhaenyra's supporters in the riverlands - though Aemond's decision to abandon the army under Criston proved to a strategic blunder. Without Vhagar to protect them, Cole's army in the east was later surrounded and destroyed in the [[Butcher's Ball]], leaving the east wide open to Rhaenyra's forces.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

About the same time of the [[Butcher's Ball]], Ser [[Byron Swann]] and his [[squire]] set out to slay a dragon. According to [[Grand Maester]] [[Munkun]], Byron was killed in an attempt to slay Vhagar, in an effort to end Aemond's raids across the [[riverlands]]. However, this claim is disputed, being instead more probable that Byron tried to kill [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]]'s dragon [[Syrax]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}{{Ref|ADWD|8}}

Aemond and Vhagar continued the destruction of the riverlands and they became the terror of the [[Trident]]. Daemon Targaryen, on his dragon [[Caraxes]], and the [[dragonseed]] [[Nettles]], on the dragon [[Sheepstealer]], were sent to hunt Aemond. They were allowed to use [[Maidenpool]] as their base, as Lord [[Manfryd Mooton]] feared an attack from Vhagar, and found himself safer this way. Daemon and Nettles unsuccessfully searched together for Vhagar, who continued to terrorize the riverlands.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

After the [[First Battle of Tumbleton]], Daemon had word sent out that he and Caraxes would await Aemond and Vhagar at Harrenhal. On the fourteenth day of Daemon's vigil at Harrenhal, Vhagar appeared in the sky, carrying Aemond and his lover [[Alys Rivers]]. Aemond left Alys in the castle's yard, and both dragons and their riders launched into the air. All four were killed in the ensuing [[Battle Above the Gods Eye]], when the dragons locked together, Caraxes's jaws closed around Vhagar's neck, Daemon leapt from his dragon to Vhagar to put [[Dark Sister]] through Aemond's eye, and the dragons crashed into [[Gods Eye|the lake]]. Some years after the end of the Dance, Vhagar's body was recovered, with Aemond's armored bones still chained to the saddle. Vhagar was one hundred and eighty-one years old when she died, on the twenty-second day of the fifth moon of {{Date|130}}.{{Ref|TPATQ}}

===Legacy===
Along with eighteen{{Ref|AGOT|13}} other Targaryen [[Dragon skulls (Targaryen)|dragon skulls]], Vhagar's skull hung on a wall in the [[Red Keep]]'s throne room.{{Ref|AGOT|3}}{{Ref|AGOT|12}}  After [[Robert's Rebellion]], King [[Robert I Baratheon]] had the skulls removed from the throne room, and stored them in a dank cellar. In {{Date|284}}, when [[Tyrion Lannister]] visited the capital for the wedding of his sister [[Cersei Lannister|Cersei]] to Robert, he observed the skulls in the cellar, including Vhagar's.{{Ref|AGOT|13}} In {{Date|298}}, [[Arya Stark]] encountered the dragon skulls while passing through the Red Keep cellars.{{Ref|AGOT|32}}{{Ref|AGOT|50}}

In {{Date|299}}, [[Daenerys Targaryen]] had the three [[ships]] sent to her by [[Illyrio Mopatis]] renamed [[Vhagar (ship)|Vhagar]], [[Meraxes (ship)|Meraxes]], and [[Balerion (ship)|Balerion]], to tell the world that the [[dragons]] had returned.{{Ref|ACOK|63}}