Difference between revisions of "House Targaryen"
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[[Aegon I]] envisioned Westeros united under one ruler, and he was determined to be that ruler, which led to the [[War of Conquest]]. At its conclusion, the lands of Westeros, known today as the [[Seven Kingdoms]], were united under [[House Targaryen]] rule from the [[Iron Throne]], starting a dynasty that lasted nearly 300 years. | [[Aegon I]] envisioned Westeros united under one ruler, and he was determined to be that ruler, which led to the [[War of Conquest]]. At its conclusion, the lands of Westeros, known today as the [[Seven Kingdoms]], were united under [[House Targaryen]] rule from the [[Iron Throne]], starting a dynasty that lasted nearly 300 years. | ||
− | Sometime between the Doom of Valyria and the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryens has abandoned the Valyrian gods and converted to the local [[faith of the Seven]], then the predominant religion in Westeros. However, they kept following the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, which was a sign in the eyes of the faith of the Seven. Following the | + | Sometime between the Doom of Valyria and the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryens has abandoned the Valyrian gods and converted to the local [[faith of the Seven]], then the predominant religion in Westeros. However, they kept following the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, which was a sign in the eyes of the faith of the Seven. Following the ascent of [[Aenys I Targaryen]], an issue of incest, the Targaryens came into conflict with the local population, leading to the [[Faith Militant uprising]]. |
Following the Death of King Viserys I Targaryen, a war of succession, known as [[the Dance of the Dragons]], broke between [[Aegon II Targaryen]] and his elder sister [[Rhaenyra Targaryen|Rhaenyra]]. In the resulting conflict both of the monarchs perish, as do many lesser branches of House Targaryen, and most of the dragons were also extinguished. | Following the Death of King Viserys I Targaryen, a war of succession, known as [[the Dance of the Dragons]], broke between [[Aegon II Targaryen]] and his elder sister [[Rhaenyra Targaryen|Rhaenyra]]. In the resulting conflict both of the monarchs perish, as do many lesser branches of House Targaryen, and most of the dragons were also extinguished. |
Revision as of 05:50, 16 February 2012
House Targaryen of King's Landing | |
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Fire and Blood
| |
Coat of arms | Black, a red three headed dragon |
Seats | |
Head | Queen Daenerys Targaryen |
Regions | |
Titles | |
Overlord | none; sovereign |
Cadet branch | House Blackfyre |
Ancestral weapons | |
Founded | Lua error in Module:Date at line 117: attempt to index local 'page' (a nil value). (~300 years ago) |
House Targaryen is a noble family of Valyrian descent that escaped the Doom. They lived for centuries on the island of Dragonstone until Aegon Targaryen and his sisters rode their dragons to the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. House Targaryen ruled as the Kings of Westeros for nearly 300 years, until expelled by Robert's Rebellion. Their seats were the capital city of King's Landing and the island castle of Dragonstone.[1]
Contents
Customs and Traits
House Targaryen sigil is a three-headed dragon breathing flames, red on black. The three-headed dragon represents Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya, (I: 36, 692), Their house words are "Fire and Blood."[2] Although the Targaryen kings took their seat at King’s Landing, the place where Aegon and his army first landed in Westeros and made their first fort, Dragonstone remained the traditional seat of the heir-apparent to the throne.
House Targaryen used to follow the old gods of Valyria, Sometimes between the Doom of Valyria and the conquest of the Seven kingdoms, the Targaryens has abandoned the Valyrian gods and converted to the local faith of the Seven, then the predominant religion in Westeros. However, they kept follow the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, wedding brother to sister, cousin to cousin ,uncle to niece,which was Unique among the noble Westerosi families.
The phrase "blood of the dragon" refers to a number of typical Targaryen features: silvery-gold (or platinum) hair and violet eyes. Some Targaryens also have a high tolerance of heat, though they are by no means immune to fire. A trait typical to Targaryens and one that was passed on to the cadet house, House Blackfyre, was the ability to have premonition-like dreams.[3]
Probably due to their incestuous practices, the Targaryens are prone to madness; King Jaehaerys II said that with the birth of a new Targaryen the gods tossed a coin to decide whether the child would be great or mad.
Dragons
The Targaryens are known as dragonlords, and seem to be closer to dragons than other men are. Aegon I introduced dragons to Westeros when he conquered it, and dragons were kept and ridden by the Targaryens until the last one perished in the reign of Aegon III Dragonbane.
The Targaryens kept dragons for much of their reign in Seven Kingdoms. To house them they built an immense domed structure in King's Landing called the Dragonpit. New dragons were bred from Aegon's original three: Vhagar, Meraxes, and the dreaded Balerion. However violent deaths in battle and a growing infirmity in each following generation caused the family's stable to dwindle. The last Targaryen dragon was a deformed and sterile creature that died very young. It is not clearly understood what caused the last dragons to die out. A legend holds that Aegon III poisoned them, but Archmaester Marwyn suggested that the Maesters were somehow responsible. Other characters have also claimed that raising dragons in enclosed spaces was unnatural and stunted their growth.
History
House Targaryen is on of the ancient and noble houses of the Valyrian Freehold, the Targaryens were one of the few families to survive the Doom of their home, which they escaped by chance when they departed for the island of Dragonstone, a small island off the east coast of Westeros, which was the westernmost Valyrian outpost, some hundred years before the doom.
One century after the Targaryens arrived on Dragonstone, the Doom descended on Valyria and destroyed it and the empire collapsed. There had been pressure for the Targaryens to go east, allying themselves with Volantis in a grand alliance against recapturing the old Valyrian colonies now known as the Free Cities, However the Targaryens remained on Dragonstone for another century until Aegon developed his ambitions toward Westeros.
Aegon I envisioned Westeros united under one ruler, and he was determined to be that ruler, which led to the War of Conquest. At its conclusion, the lands of Westeros, known today as the Seven Kingdoms, were united under House Targaryen rule from the Iron Throne, starting a dynasty that lasted nearly 300 years.
Sometime between the Doom of Valyria and the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryens has abandoned the Valyrian gods and converted to the local faith of the Seven, then the predominant religion in Westeros. However, they kept following the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, which was a sign in the eyes of the faith of the Seven. Following the ascent of Aenys I Targaryen, an issue of incest, the Targaryens came into conflict with the local population, leading to the Faith Militant uprising.
Following the Death of King Viserys I Targaryen, a war of succession, known as the Dance of the Dragons, broke between Aegon II Targaryen and his elder sister Rhaenyra. In the resulting conflict both of the monarchs perish, as do many lesser branches of House Targaryen, and most of the dragons were also extinguished.
Disputed Succession
The Dance of Dragons
The first great crisis for the Targaryen dynasty, the Dance of the Dragons, was a civil war between two of the children of King Viserys I. Viserys had three children by his first queen, a daughter of House Arryn: two sons who died in infancy and a daughter, Rhaenyra. Lacking a son to succeed him, Viserys began to train Princess Rhaenyra to be his heiress-apparent. Young Rhaenyra was included in discussions of the affairs of state, and was allowed to participate in meetings of the small council. Many of the nobles took note, and Rhaenyra soon acquired a clique of adherents and supporters.
Template:Targaryen tree Visery
However, after Viserys's queen died, the king remarried, this time to a Hightower. The new Hightower queen quickly produced three sons and a daughter, the eldest son named Aegon. Nonetheless, Rhaenyra's place in the succession seemed undisturbed; Viserys even formalized the succession in his will.
Upon the death of King Viserys I, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Criston Cole, later called 'the Kingmaker', defied the king's will, and crowned Prince Aegon as Aegon II. Ser Criston's motivations for doing so are unclear, but it was reputed that he and Rhaenyra were lovers, and their affair ended badly, adding a personal dimension to the conflict. In any event, many of the lords of the realm were aware of Viserys' wish to have Rhaenyra succeed him as Westeros's first queen regnant, and threw their support behind the princess. Doubtless, many of them were also the same clique who has spent years currying favor with the presumptive future queen. Conversely, Aegon II had the support of many other lords, and a great armed conflict engulfed Westeros.
In circumstances not yet fully revealed, Rhaenyra came to be put to death as a traitor at the hands of her brother Aegon II, who had her eaten by his dragon as her son Aegon watched. Later still, Aegon II died, and was succeeded by his nephew, Rhaenyra's son, who would reign as Aegon III, also called Aegon Dragonbane.
Since the Dance, House Targaryen has practiced a highly modified version of agnatic primogeniture, placing female claimants in the line of succession behind all possible male ones, even collateral relations. (See also Daena the Defiant, Daeron II)
House Blackfyre
One of the biggest threats to the Targaryen line developed out of a dynastic dispute involving the children of King Aegon IV. The conflict culminated in the establishment of a separate Targaryen branch, House Blackfyre, and open war that divided the realm, known as the Blackfyre Rebellion. Told in flashbacks, it is a major plot point in the novella The Sworn Sword.
Daena Targaryen | Aegon IV Targaryen | Barba Bracken | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daemon I | Rohanne of Tyrosh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aegon | Daemon II | Aenys | Two sons | Calla | Aegor Rivers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aemon | Haegon | Unknown wife | Daughter(s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daemon III | Son(s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daemon | Maelys | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In addition to having a legtimate son by his wife, Queen Naerys, Aegon IV fathered four highborn bastards, later called the Great Bastards: Daemon Blackfyre, Aegor Rivers, Shiera Seastar and Brynden Rivers. On his deathbed he legitimized them, placing them in the line of succession, albeit after Daeron, his heir-apparent, who later ruled as King Daeron II. Complicating matters, Daeron was rumoured to have been fathered by Aegon's brother Aemon the Dragonknight, casting doubts over his legitimacy and right to rule.
King Daeron was a cultured, scholarly man and reigned over a sophisticated court, attended by maesters and learned men, which was perceived as effete and overly-refined, not pleasing to many of his more martial courtiers and nobles. His marriage to the Dornish princess Myriah Martell introduced foreign influences and manners to the court, further adding to the displeasure with his reign.
The oldest of the Great Bastards, Daemon, was seen by many as the better man and potentially a better king; he was also a Targaryen on both sides, since his mother was the infamous daughter of Aegon III, Daena the Defiant. When Daemon was 14, Aegon IV had presented him with Blackfyre, the ancestral Valyrian steel sword of Targaryen kings, strengthening the perception by some that Aegon intended him to be his true heir. After his father's death, Daemon took the surname Blackfyre, and eventually rose in rebellion against King Daeron, aided by his half-brother Aegor and many other noble houses. The rebellion ended at the battle of Redgrass Field, with the deaths of Daemon Blackfyre and his twin sons, Aegon and Aemon. Daemon left other children, and House Blackfyre continued to be a threat to the main Targaryen line until the last pretender was slain in the War of the Ninepenny Kings.
Great Council
A series of circumstances culminating in a Great Council in 233 AL led to the crowning of Aegon V, called “The Unlikely” for being the fourth son of a fourth son and at some time very far down the line of succession.
Daeron II | Myriah Martell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Baelor | Jena Dondarrion | Aerys I | Aelinor Penrose | Rhaegel | Alys Arryn | Maekar I | Dyanna Dayne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Valarr | Kiera of Tyrosh[N 1] | Matarys | Aelora | Aelor | Daenora | Aerion | Daeron | Kiera of Tyrosh[N 1] | Aemon | Daella | Aegon V | Rhae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stillborn sons | Maegor | Vaella | Unknown descendants | Unknown descendants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes: |
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King Daeron II's heir, Prince Baelor Breakspear, had perished in an accident during a Trial of Seven, leaving his eldest son Valarr to inherit the crown. However a plague in 209 AL, the Great Spring Sickness, killed King Daeron and both of Baelor's sons, Valarr and Matarys. This in turn left Daeron's second son Aerys to inherit. King Aerys I left no issue, and the crown was passed to his youngest brother Maekar, who reigned as King Maekar I, the fourth son of King Daeron II. At the death of Maekar, his three oldest sons were disqualified for a number of reasons. His oldest, Daeron, called Daeron the Drunk, was a dissolute whore-monger who died of a sexually transmitted pox, and left only a feeble-witted daughter as a possible heir. His second son, Aerion Brightflame, had died as a result of drinking wildfire in the mistaken belief it would turn him into a dragon.
A Great Council passed over Daeron's daughter and the infant son of Aerion Brightflame (presumably due to the memory of his father's cruelty and mental instability). Maekar I's third son, Aemon, had at that time already taken maester's vows, forswearing his inheritance. Though pressured to accept the crown, he refused and joined the Night's Watch, taking a second set of vows that separated him from his birthright.
Hence the crown was passed on to the last son, Aegon, the fourth son of a fourth son, who was crowned as Aegon V, called Aegon the Unlikely.
Downfall
Jaehaerys II, Aegon V's son reigned for a few years before dying. He was succeeded by his eldest son Aerys II. Aerys began his reign with promise with the help of his able Hand Tywin Lannister. After a failed revolt of one of his own vassals Aerys became paranoid. He choose Tywin's heir for his Kingsguard. As members of the Kingsguard are inelegable to inherit Aerys effectively robbed Tywin of his heir. Tywin reacted by giving up his position and would later join Aerys' enemies.
Shortly after Aerys son, Rhaegar, ran off with Lyanna Stark, the daughter of the Lord paramount of the North and the fiancee of the Lord of the Stormlands. When Lyanna's family protested Aerys summoned them to King's Landing and had them killed. This started a civil war. The Targaryens lost the war and were replaced as ruling family by House Baratheon, one of the rebels.
King Aerys II Targaryen was the last Targaryen king in line after nearly 300 years of unbroken rule, his rule was brought to an end in the year 283 AC, after successfully lead a rebellion against the Targaryens, during which most of its members were wiped out. Aerys’s only remaining children after the death of his heir and eldest son Rhaegar, Viserys Targaryen and the new-born Daenerys Targaryen, were sneaked off into exile in the Free Cities to seek aid from the merchant princes of the Free Cities to restore house Targarian. Viserys, as Aerys surviving has laid claim to the throne, but none taken his claim seriously calling him the beggar king.
Timeline
Aegon I | 1 AL – 37 AL |
Aenys I | 37 AL – 42 AL |
Maegor I | 42 AL – 48 AL |
Jaehaerys I | 48 AL – 103 AL |
Viserys I | 103 AL – 129 AL |
Aegon II | 129 AL – 131 AL |
Aegon III | 131 AL - 157 AL |
Daeron I | 157 AL -161 AL |
Baelor I | 161 AL - 171 AL |
Viserys II | 171 AL - 172 AL |
Aegon IV | 172 AL - 184 AL |
Daeron II | 184 AL - 209 AL |
Aerys I | 209 AL - 221 AL |
Maekar I | 221 AL - 233 AL |
Aegon V | 233 AL - 259 AL |
Jaehaerys II | 259 AL - 262 AL |
Aerys II | 262 AL - 283 AL |
All dates are given relative to Aegon's Landing (AL).
- before ca. -200 AL
- House Targaryen relocates to the island of Dragonstone, off the coast of Westeros.
- The Doom of Valyria (ca. -100 AL)
- The Doom destroys the freehold of Valyria.
- The Wars of Conquest (ca. 1 AL)
- Aided by his two sisters and their dragons Vhagar, Meraxes, and Balerion, the armies of Aegon the Conqueror invade the seven kingdoms of Westeros, sparking the Wars of Conquest. In the battle known as the "Field of Fire," Aegon's army conquers the combined forces of the Rock and of the Reach; the three dragons kill nearly four thousand men. Many other kings bend the knee to Aegon, and in the end, only Dorne in the South remains unconquered.
- The Dance of the Dragons (129-131 AL)
- Aegon II's claim to the throne is disputed by his elder sister Rhaenyra; both perish in the resulting war.
- Conquest of Dorne (ca. 157 AL)
- Aged 14, Daeron I conquers Dorne, but is unable to hold it.
- The Battle of the Redgrass Field (196 AL)
- The first Blackfyre rebellion ends when the rebel Daemon Blackfyre's forces are defeated in the Battle of the Redgrass Field. These events are recounted in The Sworn Sword.
- Tourney at Ashford (208 AL)
- Baelor Breakspear dies from wounds sustained in trial by combat. These events are recounted in The Hedge Knight.
- The Great Spring Sickness (209 AL)
- A plague engulfs large parts of Westeros, killing King Daeron II and his grandsons Valarr and Matarys.
- Great Council (233 AL)
- A great council passes over the infant bastard son of Aerion Brightflame and the idiot daughter of Prince Daeron, crowning Aegon V, the Unlikely.
- Robert's Rebellion (282-283 AL)
- The Targaryen reign ends when Lord Robert Baratheon takes the Iron Throne and King Aerys II is killed by his sworn knight Ser Jaime Lannister.
Family
References and Notes
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 23, Daenerys III.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 23, Daenerys II.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at House Targaryen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of House Targaryen. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
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