Naerys Targaryen

	Naerys by Amok©
Titles	Princess; Queen;
Allegiance	House Targaryen
Culture	crownlands
Born	138 AC; King's Landing
Died	179–184 AC; King's Landing
Father	Viserys II Targaryen
Mother	Larra Rogare
Spouse	Aegon IV Targaryen
Lover	Aemon Targaryen (rumored)
Issue	Daeron II Targaryen; Unnamed twins (died shortly after birth); Daenerys Targaryen; Stillborn son (twin to Daenerys); Unnamed child (died with Naerys during labor);
Books	The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned); Fire & Blood (lineages); A Game of Thrones (mentioned); A Clash of Kings (mentioned); A Storm of Swords (mentioned); A Feast for Crows (mentioned);

Queen Naerys Targaryen was a member of House Targaryen and the sister-wife to King Aegon IV, who was known as the Unworthy. Naerys was the sister of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and the mother of King Daeron II Targaryen and Princess Daenerys Targaryen.

Appearance and Character

Naerys had the Targaryen looks, a fine and delicate beauty, almost unworldy.^[7] She was slender and small,^[1] and ate little to the point that she was painfully thin, almost emaciated.^[7] She had very large eyes of a deep violet hue that the singers paid homage to in songs, these framed by pale lashes.^[1] She had fine, porcelain skin,^[7] so pale it seemed nearly translucent.^[1] Naerys bore a certain resemblance to her descendant Daenerys Targaryen, though she lacked Daenerys's strength.^[7]

Naerys dressed well, but simply, and seldom wore her crown or any other jewelry. Although she had the silver-gold hair of the Targaryens, she often bound it up beneath a hair net or concealed it beneath a cowl.^[7]

Naerys was pious and gentle and frail.^[6] She loved the Seven as dearly as she loved her brother Aemon, if not even more so,^[1] and often took solace in reading The Seven-Pointed Star.^[7]

History

Youth

Born in 138 AC^[1] in King's Landing,^[2] Naerys was the only daughter and youngest child of King Viserys II Targaryen and Larra Rogare of Lys. Her mother, who never felt happy or a part of the court, abandoned her husband and children and returned to her native Lys^[1] in 139 AC,^[8] the year after Naerys was born.^[1]

According to semi-canon sources, she almost died in the cradle and was sickly for most of her life, finding most physical activity to be very taxing. She ate but little and was painfully thin, almost emaciated.^[7] Naerys loved music and poetry, played the harp well, and enjoyed sewing and embroidering. She was also devout in her faith, and often found solace in the pages of The Seven-Pointed Star.^[7] She would have become a septa, had her father allowed it.^[1]

Naerys loved Prince Aemon the most out of her two brothers, as he knew how to make her laugh. Aemon was also more like Naerys in character, while Prince Aegon was not. Yet, in 153 AC, Naerys was married to Aegon at their father's orders, with the blessing of his brother, King Aegon III. The singers like to claim that both Aemon and Naerys wept during the ceremony, but the truth is different: Aemon is known to have quarreled with Aegon during the feast, and Naerys wept during the bedding, not the actual wedding.^[1] Prince Aemon joined the Kingsguard soon after the wedding, at the age of seventeen.^[4]

Married life

On the last day of 153 AC, Naerys gave birth for the first time, to a son named Daeron. His birth was difficult for Naerys, however, and Grand Maester Alford warned her that another pregnancy could kill her.^[6] Naerys thus went to her husband, and asked him, as he now had an heir, if they could live as brother and sister, instead of husband and wife.^[6] She even begged that he release her from her marriage vows so that she could become a septa. Aegon refused her requests^[7] and inisisted she perform her "wifely duties" for the rest of her life.^[6]

The marriage of Aegon and Naerys was an unhappy one. Aegon is known to have stated that he had loved nine women in his entire lifetime, yet Naerys was not counted as being among those.^[6] While unhappy in her marriage, Naerys still had her brother Aemon and her son Daeron, who both knew how to make her smile.^[7]

Throughout the years, Naerys went through several more difficult pregnancies, despite Alford's warning that another pregnancy could kill her. In 161 AC, Naerys nearly died giving birth to twins,^[6] and the twins' deaths shortly after birth led King Baelor I Targaryen to fast for a moon's turn.^[5] Baelor also sent Naerys's husband, Aegon, to Braavos on a diplomatic mission after this pregnancy. Accounts at the time suggest it was an excuse to make sure Aegon left Naerys alone as she recovered from the difficult childbirth.^[6]

In 172 AC, Naerys gave birth to a second set of twins. The boy was stillborn, but the girl, Princess Daenerys, survived. Yet again, this delivery caused Naerys to linger near death, and Aegon's Hand of the King, Lord Bracken, went as far as to speak openly about marrying his own daughter Barba (who had given birth to the king's bastard Aegor Rivers a fortnight before Naerys had gone into labor) to Aegon, after Naerys's expected eventual death. However, Naerys eventually recovered, and the scandal caused Lord Bracken to be removed from his office.^[6]

Naerys died in childbirth a year after Prince Aemon's death. The child, never mentioned again, most likely died as well.^[6]

Rumors of Daeron's parentage

After Naerys's husband became King Aegon IV Targaryen, rumors that their son Daeron had not been fathered by Aegon, but by their brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, started being spread. The truth of this claim has never been proven or disproven, though the singers claim Naerys loved Aemon, and Aemon loved her.^[4] Aemon championed her and defended her honor against the slanders of Ser Morgil Hastwyck,^[9] when he accused her of treason.^[4]

The writings of Maester Kaeth in the Lives of Four Kings state that it was King Aegon IV who secretly started the rumors of Naerys's adultery, using Morgil to spread this tale, though the king denied this at the time. These accusations only started when Aegon and Daeron quarreled in 174 AC, when Daeron opposed his father's plan for an unprovoked war against Dorne.^[6]

Prince Aemon once won a tourney as a mystery knight so he could name Naerys the queen of love and beauty, instead of said title going to one of Aegon's mistresses.^[10]

Aemon eventually died defending Aegon from two men from House Toyne who attempted to murder him to avenge their brother, Ser Terrence Toyne of the Kingsguard. Naerys did not long survive Aemon's death, as she died in childbirth a year later. King Aegon, who had already slighted both Naerys and Aemon at every previous chance in the past, did little to honor either of his siblings' memories. Daring to go further now that the Dragonknight was dead, Aegon also began to make more references to Daeron's alleged parentage.^[6]

As far as is known, there are only rumors about Daeron's parentage, with no one having questioned the paternity of Daenerys, the only other child of Naerys who lived past infancy.

Recent events

A Game of Thrones

Sansa Stark compares that Joffrey Baratheon intervening on her behalf with Sandor Clegane and Ser Ilyn Payne to Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing the honor of Queen Naerys against the slanders of Ser Morgil Hastwyck.^[9]

After her father, Lord Eddard Stark, tells his daughters that they will be leaving King's Landing to return to Winterfell, Sansa insists that she can't leave because she loves Joffrey as much as Naerys loved Aemon the Dragonknight.^[11]

Confined to her quarters in Maegor's Holdfast after the arrest of her father, Sansa reads one of her favorite books, which includes the story of Prince Aemon's doomed love for Naerys, his brother's queen.^[12]

A Clash of Kings

When Prince Tommen Baratheon cries as his sister Princess Myrcella Baratheon departs King's Landing for Dorne, their brother King Joffrey Baratheon berates him because "Princes aren't supposed to cry." Sansa points out that Prince Aemon the Dragonknight cried the day that his sister Naerys married their brother Aegon.^[13]

As the Battle of the Blackwater rages outside Maegor's Holdfast, a singer is brought to play music for the women and young boys taking refuge in the Queen's Ballroom. One of the songs he sings is about Prince Aemon's love for his brother's queen, Naerys. The songs are beautiful but sad, to the point that several women, including Sansa, begin to cry.^[14]

A Storm of Swords

When Sansa warns Margaery Tyrell not to marry King Joffrey because of his cruelty, Margaery assures her that her brother, Ser Loras Tyrell, will protect her as Prince Aemon once protected Naerys. Sansa is unconvinced because, although Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Naerys, perhaps out of fear for their brother, he had still executed one of his mistresses.^[15]

While Meera Reed tells Bran Stark the tale of the mystery knight called the Knight of the Laughing Tree Bran recalls how Prince Aemon once won a tourney and the Knight of Tears so that he could crown Naerys queen of love and beauty in the place of one of their brother the king's mistresses.^[10]

A Feast for Crows

In response to Ser Arys Oakheart's shame at breaking his Kingsguard vows to bed her, Arianne Martell points out that even the noble Aemon the Dragonknight took his queen, Naerys, to bed and got her with child. Arys insists the tale of Aemon's treason with Naerys was only a lie spread by their brother, Aegon the Unworthy, as a pretext to set his trueborn son with Naerys, Daeron, aside in favor of his bastard, Daemon Blackfyre.^[16]

Asked what will happen if Queen Margaery Tyrell demands a trial by combat in response to accusations levelled against her, Queen Cersei Lannister says that she must be defended by a Kingsguard, pointing out that every child in Westeros knows of how Prince Aemon defended Queen Naerys against the accusations of Ser Morgil.^[17]

Quotes

Quotes by Naerys

Naerys: I have done my duty by you, and given you an heir. I beg you, let us live henceforth as brother and sister.
Aegon: That is what we are doing.^[6]
— Naerys and Aegon IV Targaryen

Quotes about Naerys

I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight.^[11]
— Sansa Stark to Eddard Stark

Arianne: And the Dragonknight? The noblest knight who ever lived, you said, and he took his queen to bed and got her with child.
Arys: I will not believe that. The tale of Prince Aemon's treason with Queen Naerys was only that, a tale, a lie his brother told when he wished to set his trueborn son aside in favor of his bastard.^[16]
— Arianne Martell and Arys Oakheart

Why, every child in Westeros knows how Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championed his sister Queen Naerys against Ser Morghil's^[sic] accusations.^[17]
— Cersei Lannister