Gaemon Palehair

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Gaemon Palehair
Title King
Allegiance House Targaryen
Born 126 AC
Book The World of Ice and Fire (mentioned)

Gaemon Palehair was the son of Essie, a whore in the House of Kisses, and a pretender king during the Dance of the Dragons. He was claimed to be a bastard of Aegon II Targaryen.

History

During the Moon of the Three Kings, after Rhaenyra Targaryen's escape from King's Landing, Gaemon's gathered thousands of followers and issued a series of edicts.[1]

His mother would later be hanged, having confessed his father was a silver-haired Lysene oarsman. Gaemon was spared and taken into the royal household, befriending Aegon III Targaryen and becoming his constant companion, his whipping boy after Lord Unwin Peake came to power, and later, for some years, food taster. He died of poison that may have been intended for the king instead.[2]

Gaemon's edicts

Some of Gaemon's edicts, certainly the work of Essie's paramour Sylvenna Sand, were:[3]

  • Girls should henceforth be equal with boys in matters of inheritance
  • The poor be given bread and beer in times of famine
  • Men who lost limbs in war must be fed and housed afterward by whichever lord they had been fighting for when the loss took place.
  • Husband who beat their wives should themselves be beaten, regardless of the motive for the chastisement.

References and Notes

  1. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon II.
  2. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon III.
  3. The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Queer Customs of the South.