The Court of Viserys I

Introduction

Hello and welcome once again to The Three Heads of the Dragon: Kings, Pretenders, and the Ladies of Fire”, the first multi-author series for Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire.  This series will explore the Targaryen dynasty from inception to destruction, and my pieces – the “Ladies of Fire” – will focus on the ladies of the dynasty – both those born into the red-and-black and those who had a great influence on the dynasty.

In Parts 1 and 2, we examined the sister-queens of Aegon the Conqueror, Rhaenys and Visenya.  In Part 3, we discussed Rhaenys’ granddaughter, and Jaehaerys the Conciliator’s beloved consort, Alysanne. The good queen predeceased her brother-king, yet she did live long enough to see the birth of her great-granddaughter Rhaenyra.  What she did not see – and could not have imagined – were the internal, backbiting politics of her grandson’s court, and the strong-willed women in it who would drive the peaceful realm of Jaehaerys once again to the brink of destruction.

Alysanne

Introduction

Hello and welcome once again to “Three Heads of the Dragon: Kings, Pretenders, and the Ladies of Fire”, the first multi-author series for Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire.  This series will explore the Targaryen dynasty from inception to destruction, and my pieces – the “Ladies of Fire” – will focus on the ladies of the dynasty – both those born into the red-and-black and those who had a great influence on the dynasty.

In Parts 1 and 2, we explored the lives and times of Aegon the Conqueror’s two sister-queens, Rhaenys and Visenya.  By the time of Visenya’s death in 44 AC, the Iron Throne had already hosted both of Aegon’s sons, and the dynasty the Dragon had founded threatened to collapse into chaos.  The realm would need a strong, capable leader to reassert the power of House Targaryen, and an equally strong queen by his side – not a warrior-queen like Visenya, or a scandal-haunted one like Rhaenys, but a clever, gracious, and virtuous woman.  As it happened, the perfect pair were about to take the throne.

Visenya

Introduction

Hello and welcome once again to “Three Heads of the Dragon: Kings, Pretenders, and the Ladies of Fire”, the first multi-author series for Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire.  This series will explore the Targaryen dynasty from inception to destruction, and my pieces – the “Ladies of Fire” – will focus on the ladies of the dynasty – both those born into the red-and-black and those who had a great influence on the dynasty.

In my first part of this series, we explored Rhaenys Targaryen, the younger sister and queen of Aegon I Targaryen.  Yet although she was more favored by Aegon, Rhaenys was not her brother’s only wife – or only sibling. Older than both was Visenya Targaryen, who would prove to be a fearsome queen in her own right.

Rhaenys

Introduction

For nearly 300 years, House Targaryen from Valyria ruled the continent of Westeros.  From the Wall in the North to the Broken Arm of Dorne in the south, from Dragonstone in the east to the Iron Islands in the West, the Targaryens – and their dragons – extended their writ over a mix of races and cultures.  People who had never been joined by a single monarch, kings whose lines extended back millennia to the Dawn Age, First Men and Andals and (eventually) Rhoynar, all bent the knee to these violet-eyed, silver-haired conquerors from another world.  Thus, to understand the history of Westeros, it is critical to understand the history of this dynasty,

So I, along with MilitantPenguin and SomethingLikeaLawyer, present to you “The Three Heads of the Dragon: Kings, Pretenders, and the Ladies of Fire”.  This, the first multi-author essay series for Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire, will explore the history of House Targaryen through its most notable individual members.  With these essays, we hope to investigate the history of the realm during the reign of the dragonlords, focusing on these men and women’s contributions to Westerosi history.

For my part of this essay series, I will be focusing on the ladies of the dynasty.  This essay series will explore those ladies born into the dynasty – the daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers of Targaryen kings – as well as the women who had a great impact on the dynasty’s history.   Though little (and less) is known about many of these women, I hope to explore some of the more fascinating members of this family, in order to understand House Targaryen’s rise and fall in Westeros.

Taking the Throne – A Military Analysis of Aegon’s Conquest

Image by Amok

 “Aegon saw that three hundred years ago when he stood where we are standing. They painted this table at his command. Rivers and bays they painted, hills and mountains, castles and cities and market towns, lakes and swamps and forests… but no borders. It is all one. One realm, for one king to rule alone.” –A Storm of Swords, Davos IV

Aegon Targaryen. Aegon the Conqueror. Aegon the Dragon. Few men changed Westerosi history as much as the dragonlord with the dramatic vision: one continent, one realm, one king. In a continent marked with wars from Dorne to the Wall, the notion that one man could control all of Westeros was nothing short of a fantasy. There are three major ethnic groups, three dominant religions, at least eight distinct regions each with their own cultures and subcultures littering a continent roughly the size of South America. Holding such territory under a single authority would be almost impossible without a way to project the authority needed, though this did not stop kings from trying. Arlan III Durrandon, the Storm King of that time, extended his reach to  the Riverlands, though every generation a Riverlander would attempt to overthrow him. The Hoare kings of the Iron Islands would do the same three centuries after the Stormlander conquest, invading the territory with the help of Riverlander infighting, defeating the overeager Arrec Durrandon (who marched ahead of his baggage train, a disaster that spelled doom for many generals both in A Song of Ice and Fire’s world and our own), and placing himself as King of the Riverlands, subjecting the Riverlanders to thralldom for three generations.

The Hoare kings could boast that they controlled the largest swath of territory in Westeros, but a new invader was rising in the east, and would conquer almost the entire kingdom, in fire and blood.