History of Westeros

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

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

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.

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.

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.

King Daeron

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

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.

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.

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

The Tragedy of Summerhall

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… Listen to part 2 here!

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.”

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.

Dreams

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

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.

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

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

The Pardon of Barristan Selmy by King Robert Baratheon

After the Battle of the Trident, Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark and others had a decision on their hands. Barristan the Bold, one of the greatest knights in the realm, lay badly wounded after suffering 3 or more wounds during the fighting. Roose Bolton counseled his throat be cut (this is also the very first time Roose’s name ever appears in ASOIAF). However, Robert would do no such thing. As he did with so many others, he flipped a foe into a friend.

Robert, still young and uncorrupted by the throne, was not yet a man willing to murder. He believed that the only place for killing an enemy was on a battlefield, save perhaps an arranged duel or the like. Robert said (according to Ned):

“I will not kill a man for loyalty, nor for fighting well”

It was not necessary for anyone on the side of mercy to argue, since Robert was already set on allowing Barristan Selmy to live. But had he been on the fence, or intent on an execution, any student of Westerosi history could’ve made a great point that may have swayed Robert on a personal level. A particularly glorious deed of Ser Barristan’s looms large here… One very relevant to House Baratheon.

Barristan the Bold is famous for many reasons, but aside from Duskendale, the slaying of Maelys Blackfyre is surely at the top of the list. Why would this matter to Robert? Because Maelys the Monstrous himself slew Robert’s own grandfather, Hand of the King and Lord of Storm’s End, Ormund Baratheon, during the War of the Ninepenny Kings. Robert had not even been born by this point, but surely he heard how his Lord grandfather died. Robert is no student of history, but in a land where blood debts are common currency, this would surely argue strongly for a pardon.

In fact, perhaps this did factor in Robert’s decision to name Ser Barristan the Lord Commander after the war.

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