Our joint coverage of the Dance of the Dragons with our friends at Radio Westeros begins with the key events that led to war. We will be talking about the Queen Who Never Was, the Great Council of 101, the Year of the Red Spring, the formation of the Blacks & Greens, and much more!
Once you’re done, you can watch and listen to the second part in our Dance of the Dragons series here; you can watch the third episode here. In those episodes, we move on to the taking of Harrenhal by Prince Daemon Targaryen, Blood & Cheese, Rook’s Rest, and the taking of King’s Landing, among other events. But first, we have the beginning of the rift:
The Dance of the Dragons is the flowery name bestowed upon the savage internecine struggle for the Iron Throne of Westeros fought between two rival branches of House Targaryen during the years 129 to 131 AC. To characterize the dark, turbulent, bloody doings of this period as a “dance” strikes us as grotesquely inappropriate. No doubt the phrase originated with some singer. “The Dying of the Dragons” would be altogether more fitting, but tradition and time have burned the more poetic usage into the pages of history, so we must dance along with the rest.
The Dance of the Dragons Begins
For this was to be a year when many of the long-simmering tensions and jealousies that had plagued the Seven Kingdoms finally came to a boil; a year when many and more would have reason to wail and grieve and rend their garments.
Images
Rhaenyra by NaomiMakesArt 
Rhaenys Targaryen – The Queen Who Never Was by Drafturgy 
Rhaenys Targaryen & Corlys Velaryon by Drafturgy 
Visenya, Aegon, and Rhaenys by NaomiMakesArt 
Laena and Laenor Velaryon by NaomiMakesArt 
Rhaenyra and the Strongs by Poly-Hebdo 
Alys Rivers and Aemond Targaryen by NaomiMakesArt 
Rhaenyra and Daemon by NaomiMakesArt 
Rhaenyra by Doug Wheatley