History of Westeros

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 7 – Bloodraven

The first of THREE Bloodraven episodes and part 7 of our Blackfyre Rebellions series. This one covers the time from his birth until the death of King Daeron II.

Six years ago in King’s Landing, Dunk had seen him with his own two eyes, as he rode a pale horse up the Street of Steel with fifty Raven’s Teeth behind him. That was before King Aerys had ascended to the Iron Throne and made him the Hand, but even so he cut a striking figure, garbed in smoke and scarlet with Dark Sister on his hip. His pallid skin and bone-white hair made him look a living corpse. Across his cheek and chin spread a wine-stain birthmark that was supposed to resemble a red raven, though Dunk only saw an odd-shaped blotch of discolored skin. He stared so hard that Bloodraven felt it. The king’s sorcerer had turned to study him as he went by. He had one eye, and that one red. The other was an empty socket, the gift Bittersteel had given him upon the Redgrass Field. Yet it seemed to Dunk that both eyes had looked right through his skin, down to his very soul. Despite the heat, the memory made him shiver. – The Sworn Sword

Outline

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 3 – Daemon Blackfyre (spoiler free)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voFnOoU8B8k

Aziz is joined by returning guest Steven Attewell (of Race for the Iron Throne) to discuss the legendary Daemon Blackfyre. The man, the myth, the sword, the rivalries, the immense popularity. Comparisons to Robert and Renly Baratheon, Aemon the Dragonknight and more are included. The most Daemon-tastic episode of all time!

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. Born Under a Bad Name
  2. Becoming Blackfyre
  3. The Living Legend
  4. The Black Dragon Arises

“Daemon Blackfyre, the brothers Toyne, the Vulture King, Grand Maester Hareth . . . traitors have always paid with their lives.”

“Raised at the Red Keep, this handsome youth was given the instruction of the wisest maesters and the best masters-at-arms at court, including Ser Quentyn Ball, the fiery knight called Fireball. He loved nothing better than deeds of arms and excelled at them, and many saw in him a warrior who would one day be another Dragonknight.”

“Daeron was spindly and round of shoulder, with a little belly that wobbled when he walked. Daemon stood straight and proud, and his stomach was flat and hard as an oaken shield. And he could fight. With ax or lance or flail, he was as good as any knight I ever saw, but with the sword he was the Warrior himself. When Prince Daemon had Blackfyre in his hand, there was not a man to equal him . . . not Ulrick Dayne with Dawn, no, nor even the Dragonknight with Dark Sister.”

Daemon was the name Daena gave to this child, for Prince Daemon had been the wonder and the terror of his age, and in later days that was seen as a warning of what the boy would become. Daemon Waters was his full name when he was born in 170 AC.”

 

“Knights and lords of the Dornish Marches came to mistrust Daeron, and Baelor as well, and began to look more and more to the old days, when Dornishmen were the enemy to fight, not rivals for the king’s attention or largesse. And then they would look at Daemon Blackfyre—grown tall and powerful, half a god among mortal men, and with the Conqueror’s sword in his possession—and wonder.”

 

“[Daena] even contrived, toward the end of Baelor’s reign, to get herself with child—though some might say it would have been better had she been less defiant, for all the trouble that son brought to the realm.”

 

“There was no final insult, no great wrong, that led Daemon Blackfyre to turn against King Daeron.”

 

“Why, lad? You ask me why? Because Daemon was the better man. The old king saw it, too. He gave the sword to Daemon. Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conquerer, the blade that every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest . . . he put that sword in Daemon’s hand the day he knighted him, a boy of twelve.”

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The Tragedy of Summerhall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK25XfDFsIM

The Tragedy of Summerhall was a spectacular attempt by Aegon V to hatch dragon eggs, and it failed spectacularly, killing most to all of the participants plus at least some, probably most of, the witnesses. Summerhall has some really surprising aspects to it, and explains quite a lot more than we could’ve hoped it would, despite so much of it still remaining mysterious. Not just in what happened, but in how it impacts the more recent, and even the current, ASOIAF storyline.

This episode will have a second (shorter) part focusing on the aftermath of Summerhall, examining the effects on Aerys, Rhaegar, and the realm..

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. History of Summerhall
  2. The Realm of Aegon V, Treason & Turmoil
  3. Dragon Dreams
  4. Enablers: The Wisdom & the Ghost
  5. The Ritual

“What became of the dream of dragons was a grievous tragedy born in a moment of joy. In the fateful year 259 AC, the king summoned many of those closest to him to Summerhall, his favorite castle, there to celebrate the impending birth of his first great-grandchild, a boy later named Rhaegar, to his grandson Aerys and granddaughter Rhaella, the children of Prince Jaehaerys.”

“Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.”

“My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one.”

Daeron [the 2nd] raised a great seat in the Dornish marches, near to where the boundaries of the Reach, the stormlands, and Dorne met. Calling it Summerhall to mark the peace he had created, it was more palace than castle and lightly fortified at best; in the years to come, many sons of House Targaryen would hold the seat as Prince of Summerhall.”

 

“The last years of Aegon’s reign were consumed by a search for ancient lore about the dragon breeding of Valyria, and it was said that Aegon commissioned journeys to places as far away as Asshai-by-the-Shadow with the hopes of finding texts and knowledge that had not been preserved in Westeros.”

 

“As he grew older, Aegon V had come to dream of dragons flying once more above the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. In this, he was not unlike his predecessors, who brought septons to pray over the last eggs, mages to work spells over them, and maesters to pore over them. Though friends and counselors sought to dissuade him, King Aegon grew ever more convinced that only with dragons would he ever wield sufficient power to make the changes he wished to make in the realm and force the proud and stubborn lords of the Seven Kingdoms to accept his decrees.”

 

“The dragons are done. The Targaryens tried to bring them back half a dozen times. And made fools of themselves, or corpses.”

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Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 2 – Daeron II the Good (spoiler free)

The son of Aegon the Unworthy had a lot to deal with after his father’s deathbed decree. Guest Steven Attewell of Race for the Iron Throne joins Aziz in discussing Daeron II, and whether or not he actually deserved to be called “the Good”. Special attention paid to the Great Bastards, Baelor Breakspear, and Dorne.

“Daeron’s reign quickly stabilized the realm, and he soon came to be called Daeron the Good by the smallfolk and noble lords alike. He was widely seen as just and goodhearted, even if some questioned the influence of his Dornish wife. And though he was no warrior—descriptions of the era note that he was small of frame, with thin arms, round shoulders, and a scholarly disposition—two of his four sons seemed all that could be wished in a knight, lord, or heir. Yet too many men looked upon Baelor’s dark hair and eyes and muttered that he was more Martell than Targaryen, even though he proved a man who could win respect with ease and was as open-handed and just as his father. Knights and lords of the Dornish Marches came to mistrust Daeron, and Baelor as well… And then they would look at Daemon Blackfyre—grown tall and powerful, half a god among mortal men, and with the Conqueror’s sword in his possession—and wonder.”

He chose to be crowned with his father’s crown—a decision likely intended to quell any remaining doubts about his legitimacy.”

 

“The line of the dragonkings had almost died out during his father’s day, but it was commonly said that Daeron II and his sons had left it secure for all time.”

 

“The eldest, Prince Baelor, won the name Breakspear at the age of seventeen, following his famous victory at Princess Daenerys’s wedding tourney; he defeated Daemon Blackfyre in the final tilt. And his youngest son, Prince Maekar, seemed like to show a similar prowess.”

 

“Aegon and Prince Daeron were quarreling over the king’s plans to launch an unprovoked war against Dorne. It was also the first (but not the last) time that Aegon threatened to name one of his bastards as his heir instead of Daeron.”

 

“He was conscientious in his duties to the realm and sought to stabilize it in the wake of Aegon’s deathbed decree.”

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