Steven Attewell of Race for the Iron Throne returns, we discuss the 3rd and 4th Blackfyre Rebellions, the Golden Company, and a lot more Bittersteel.

Credits
Our introduction, the Essos map, and the Bittersteel and Golden Company images were created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox), with the cyvasse pieces created by dutchmogul. Check out the episode on YouTube or the Acast player below to see those images, as well as art by Ed Scheer.

The primary topics in this episode:

Part 1 – The Life of an Exile
Part 2 – The Blackfyre Dynasty ~212
Part 3 – The Golden Company
Part 4 – Third Blackfyre Rebellion
Part 5 – Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion
Part 6 – Bittersteel: Death & Legacy
Part 7 – The Golden Company Then & Now
Outro

“At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens Blackfyres to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper Falseborn continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother’s crown had gone. In the alleys and wine sinks of Pentos Tyrosh, they called her brother “the beggar king.” Dany Calla did not want to know what they called her.” – AGOT, Daenerys I

My mother was a lady of Tyrosh. I dye my hair in memory of her.” – ADWD, Tyrion III

“He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them.” – ADWD, Epilogue

“Bittersteel gathered exiled lords and knights, and their descendants, to him. He formed the Golden Company in 212 AC, and soon established it as the foremost free company of the Disputed Lands. “Beneath the gold, the bitter steel” became their battle cry, renowned across Essos.” – TWOIAF

“Bittersteel saw the strength of House Blackfyre scattering to the four winds, so he formed the Golden Company to bind the exiles together.” – TWOIAF

“Ser Aegor Rivers was sixty-nine years of age when he fell, and it is said he died as he had lived, with a sword in his hand and a curse upon his lips. Yet his legacy would live on in the Golden Company and the Blackfyre line he had served and protected.” – TWOIAF