Egon the 4th legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed, and
how much pain, grief, war and murder grew from that.
I know you trust John, but can you trust his sons or their
sons? The Black Fire pretenders
troubled the Targaryens for five generations until Barristan the
Bolt slew the last of them on the step stones.
Now, as King Rob was writing his will, Catelyn tried to impress
upon him the dire consequences of legitimizing bastards.
Black fire rebellions were the best possible choice for her
example, as they represent the worst case scenario.
So hello and welcome to another episode of History of Westeros
Podcast, a podcast dedicated to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice
and Fire book series, as well as HBO's Game of Thrones.
This yes, HBO's game. Of Thrones.
This is episode 1, Seeds of the Black Fire Rebellion.
This is the first of many episodes leading up to the
Battle of Red Grass Field, the final battle of the first Black
Fire Rebellion. This episode is spoiler free
except for The World of Ice and Fire and some very, very mild
Duncan Egg spoilers. They're so mild that they're
really barely worth mentioning. Yeah, just some of the
historical backdrop that is featured in those stories,
nothing actually related to the stories themselves.
So you won't be spoiled on the plots of those at all.
Before we get started, we have a few announcements and things to
go through and we'll try to make it quick.
Of course, as usual, we have people behind the scenes that
are giving us a little bit of help, helping us with either
research or certain topics or just giving us their opinion on
certain theories and things like that, that help us, you know,
kind of put it all together and, and make sure like we do to take
the whole picture of things. So a big, a big shout out to
helper Rainey's Targaryen from the West rest.org boards, who is
the probably leading expert on the planet as far as a Song of
Ice and Fire timelines. And she also does some of her
own writings on the boards as well.
So you can check that out. Check her out.
She's got some good stuff. If you've looked at the wiki,
you've she she's helped you out. That's true, yeah.
If you've ever read the Wiki of Ice and Fire at all, you are
familiar with her work. So there you go.
Now, as far as people who have helped financially, of course,
we have to give those people their just their due and almost,
let's say just desert. Yeah, you bad people giving us
money. So first of all, a shout out to
our new Hand of the King, an official title from our Patreon
subscribers. That is Cash Craig.
You'll be hearing his name. Yeah, Cash Craig, you'll be
hearing his name a lot because one of the benefits of being
handed the king is getting your name mentioned every episode.
So that's that. Thanks a lot Cash.
He's one of our biggest supporters and a great guy.
We we we talk all the time. So he's certainly a few of the
thoughts and have made it in our episodes in the past.
At least a couple of those are hit to his credit.
Also James Saunders from the UK. Thanks very much James for your
support. You've been one of our biggest
supporters and we wanted to thank you for that.
Also Steven Lewis thanks Steven for the support and Jordan
Glover thank you as well. If we missed anybody that we
owed a shout out, please let us know.
We've done some we we've changed a few things around lately, and
some things may have gotten lost in the shuffle.
We no longer do automatic shout outs.
If you missed that announcement, if you ask for one, you'll get
one, provided you give a donation of course.
But we don't do that by default anymore.
So onward. We did have one thing that
people have been asking us, they don't know our names.
That's right. Some people, we used to say that
regularly, but we don't anymore. And we kind of just assumed
everybody knows who we are, but we're constantly getting new
subscribers. It's important for us to kind of
remind people who we are. I'm Aziz.
And I'm a Shaya. If you watch us on YouTube,
you'll notice that our name is AA Podcast.
That's why it's a a podcast. YouTube wouldn't wouldn't let us
have our title be History of Australos all the way.
Yeah. For some reason so.
That's the story. We're not We're not Azor a high
podcast. So anyway, on onto the episode.
We're really excited to do the Black Fire rebellions as as a
Shaya said. There's going to be several,
probably 6-7 or eight episodes for the Black Fire.
And that's just the first part here.
It's a great topic. It's one of the biggest
historical topics, one of the most important topics.
So let's stop talking about it and get into it.
In my opinion, in our opinion, in a lot of your opinions, you'd
probably share this opinion that George RR Martin crafts
characters thoroughly and beautifully.
Their relationships, they make sense.
The laws of human nature are followed.
This makes it more compelling, It feels more realistic, and
it's so prevalent in his writing that it applies not just to A
Song of Ice and Fire, but to the back story to the history.
The Blackfire epic feels like several stories written between
the lines and well, that's because there are several
stories written between the lines.
And there are some others that are just spelled out and meant
to be taken its face back. Absolutely a great combination
of both. This episode and its companions
will seek to highlight these hidden stories as we always do
at History of Westeros, and one of the main ways we'll seek to
understand the Blackfyre Rebellions is by examining the
lives of those who made it happen, as well as the major
events that they caused. By looking through the eyes of
the main characters will reveal the events that shaped these key
individuals. Why did Damon Blackfyre rebel?
Why was Bitter Steel so bitter? And in particular today, why was
Egg on the 4th called The Unworthy?
You'll see that there are quite a few reasons he earned that
nickname now. But because we're dealing with
people whose whims could cause war, whose blood makes them
traitors, whose legacy would threaten stability for
generations, well, it makes sense to look at why they behave
the way they do. Simply put, it's the history of
the characters who made history. This is a worthwhile endeavor
only because George RR Martin has made it so with with most
authors, the more you dig, the more holes you find, the the
less it fits and the less it makes sense.
The mysteries become smoke, the shiny surfaces become mirrors.
This undermines enjoyment. So why even do it?
Why look behind the curtains if it's going to break the spell?
Because we want to. Because it's fun.
Damn. It, I mean, to you and me, to
all the listeners out there, we're curious.
And with George, the more we dig, the better it seems to get,
the more it seems to make sense, really.
Yeah, instead of Curiosity killing the cat, Curiosity
resurrects the cat by the dozen and sends it forth to do its
bidding, then creates a religion based on this zombie cat cult.
So this cat. Zombie Cat.
Zombie cat. Oh, there we go.
It all fits. But this cat, or this king who
fathered so many important bastards, was by extension also
the father of the Blackfyre Rebellions.
What better place to begin? We've divided his life into five
parts, one for each king he lived under, including himself,
his own weight. You could maybe make him
describe that he lived under himself.
That didn't work. Each Targaryen king had a unique
and crucial impact on Aegon, on the realm, on Dorne, and in
setting up our main topic, the Blackfyre Rebellions.
When he became king in 172 AC upon the death of his father,
Viserys the Second, Aegon the 4th used the power of the throne
above all else to satisfy his desires.
It wasn't exactly the most ambitious, although he was very
ambitious about, you know, women and drinking and eating.
And getting the throne itself. Yeah, that's true.
And actually getting there was maybe perhaps the one thing he
was truly ambitious about in affairs of state.
He was absent at best. Archmaester, Case wrote.
No king before or after would practice so much willful
misrule. So it actually sounds more like
things were better when he wasn't trying to rule.
His attention was more destructive than his
carelessness, you could say. And I put another way, the times
he wasn't involved with his mistresses may have been worse
than the times he was. If we were to rank the Targaryen
kings by who the absolute worst were, the one of the first we'd
think of of course is the Mad King.
Mega or the Cruel would probably come to mind too, but egg on the
fourth was arguably the worst of them all.
Who do you think the worst is? Disease.
I think it's a it's a close call.
I think I'm maybe just because I've spent so much time thinking
about egg on the 4th recently. It kind of highlights to him,
but I could see the argument for maybe Aries or I don't.
I don't really think there's another guy that.
Yeah, I think, I think it's Aries because I think that he's
the only one of them that, you know, caused the downfall of the
Targaryens, whether you know how much he was truly the downfall.
And I do think that was overall bad for the realm, at least at
the moment. So I I, I think he's the worst.
Yeah, that's a good point. The the whole idea that
especially if you're a Targaryen fan and the guy who you know
blew it for the Targaryens, that's that's a pretty big deal.
As far as the creating the most war and death, it's that's a
toss up. I'm not really sure who you
could. They both caused so much it's
hard to say who was worse. So anyway, feel free to let us
know who you think was worse the the Mad King or egg on the 4th.
But wait till we've given you the full story before you make
your decision. So we'll start at the beginning
of his life, because George has laid the foundation for us to
understand, at least in part, why Egg on the 4th became Egg on
the Unworthy. What kind of king could earn
such a nickname? What kind of man could cause
such chaos? So this is Part 1, born in
Aftermath, the reign of Egg on the Third, born in 135 to
Viserys Targaryen and Lara Rogare of Lease during the tail
end of the Regent Wars, which was essentially a power struggle
enabled by Egg on the Third Youth.
The Regent Wars however ended suddenly when the in King came
of age, of course no more region and he took a firm hand.
Our Aegon's father Viserys was eventually made Hand of the King
and he was the Hand of the King for the 2 after him, but this
probably came later as Viserys was only 14 at this time.
Now a quick note. We're going to call him our
Aegon quite a bit in this episode to distinguish him from
all the other Aegon's that come up.
Of course, Aegon is a really, really common name in the
Targaryen line. And we can't just call him Aegon
the 4th all the time because we're we're dealing with his
whole life and he wasn't king, you know, when he was born or
anything. So just a little note there to
hope you hopefully you guys will get too confused.
There's also a lot of Darrons and we mentioned Viserys several
times, but there's just the one Viserys, so don't need to get
confused there. Now for the most part, Aegon
never seemed very likely to rule in the 1st place, though the
Regent wars were tumultuous. The King's life, Aegon the Third
here's our first, you know, reason for specifying which
Aegon is. Aegon the Aegon the Third's life
didn't seem to be in much danger despite the region wars.
Though his first queen was probably murdered, he himself
didn't seem to be in much danger.
And of course, he's a as we said, he was a very young man,
so we would expect him to live many more years and probably
have more children. So that would just push Aegon
farther and farther back. A year or so after our Aegon was
born, his brother Aamon followed and a six year winter ended.
Though this episode is mostly about his brother, the Prince
later called the Dragon Knight could easily have an episode of
his own, and he probably will. He's a great character.
Going through all this info, it just became a yeah.
Now, Aamon and Aegon both became amongst the most famous of
Targaryens, but they became famous in very different ways.
The two would have many disagreements, some of which
were so famous that they're still remembered.
Yeah, and their stories are clearly important as George RR
Martin brings them into the narrative at a fairly early
point. The brothers are spoken of by
Maester Eamonn in a famous moment for Jon Snow, the scene
when he discovers that the maester is actually a Targaryen.
My grandfather named me for Prince Amon the Dragon Knight,
who was his uncle or his father, depending on which tale you
believe. Amon, he called me.
Depending on which tale you believe is the key phrase of
that quote there it's it's the question that all Westeros asked
itself during the Blackfyre Rebellions while choosing to
fight either for the Black Dragon or the Red.
Now the quote itself is an indirect reference to the
Blackfyre Rebellions, and it seems to be the first in the
entire series. And John later speaks to Lord
Commander Mormont about this. And Mormont also knows the
history. And this shows us that these
tales are still pretty well known.
And so here we have this quote. Here, Maester Amon was named for
the Dragon Knight. So he was.
Some say Prince Amon was King Garron's true father, not Aegon
the Unworthy. So this parentage question
question is still a topic well over 100 years later, and it's
established as early as the first book.
Yeah, that great early reveal in Game of Thrones is our first
mention of the two together, though Amon is mentioned prior
to the scene and so as near as their sister George made these
ancient tales part of the Song of Ice and Fire epic almost
right away, so. Yeah, So how about that bit of
subtlety? Early in the series, John is
getting an education on a conflict that hinged on a
question of parentage and bastardy sneaky.
And it's a question that specifically poses the question
of whether someone is a father or an uncle.
I mean, that's crazy. Now, these these same questions
are crucial to John's own storyline.
And This is why you just have to reread.
It's really, really, really easy to miss the full significance of
this, because the shock of learning that the maestro is a
Targaryen conceals it. It's still a powerful scene on
the reread, but there won't be any shock.
True that. To be clear, one of the two
major claims Damon Blackfyre had to the Iron Throne was the rumor
that King Garon the Second was actually the son of Prince Aim
and the Dragon Knight in a different light.
That's that's a huge improvement.
A big compliment. Son of the Dragon Knight?
Hell yeah. Would you much rather be son of
the Dragon Knight than son of a guy called the unworthy?
Except for the whole, you know, that would mean that you're no
longer the heir to the throne or whatever.
So there's the matter of completely nullifying your all
your rights to the crown. If true, that is.
And that is the big question. If true.
And and how can one know? Again, there's a there's a DNA
test in Westeros. Yeah, it's not unlike Santis's
claim versus Joffrey, Ambassador King pretending to be true born.
Of course, the major difference here is that we readers know for
a certainty who Jo Who Joffrey, Taman, and Marcella's parents
are, while we don't know the truth regarding Amon or Aegon as
the father of Deron. But in both cases, the
characters in the story just don't know the truth.
Other than a select few, most Westerosi don't know if Taman is
a Baratheon or an incest Lannister, so everyone is left
to weigh what evidence they do or don't have, and this relies
on what rumors or stories are told and who tells them.
Yeah, in the end, here's a great quote.
Treason is only a word. When 2 Princess fight for a
chair where only one may sit. Great Lords and common men alike
must choose. And when the battles done, the
victors will be hailed as loyal men and true, whilst those who
were defeated will be known forevermore as rebels and
traitors. So like that sneaky awesome John
parallel, we also have Prince Eamonn and Sir Jamie Lannister,
both Kingsguard Knights suspected in having fathered the
King on the Queen, and in both cases, the Queen is their
sister. So there we have two rich
history repeats itself situations, and we're going to
continue to notice similarities to other characters as we move
along here. And there are a lot.
Yeah, as as always, George's historical backdrop often has
very strong parallels to the current story, and that's one of
the things that gives so much value in examining these
historical stories already. We've got parallels to John's
parentage, John's battery, we've got parent, we've got parallels
to Jamie and Cersei. And and yeah, that's going to be
more the other of the two, two major claims was that that Damon
had to the throne was that he possessed not just the name
Blackfire, but the Targaryen sword of Kings that bears the
same name. Now like Aim and the Dragon
Knight, there's a good chance we'll do a bonus episode just
dedicated to the sword Blackfire, which is of course
the Valyrian steel blade wielded by Aegon the Conqueror himself.
So look for an episode along along that about that rather at
some point in the next couple months.
But in the meantime, Aegon and Aamon's sister, the mother in
these questions of parentage and Aegon's future wife, was born
two years later in 138. She was a delicate child who
grew up to be gentle and extremely pious.
She also grew up knowing her father would likely marry her to
her brother Aegon at some point, probably fairly fairly early on.
This must have given her a deep sense of foreboding.
Having him to look forward to as a husband, husband for life,
must have been pretty soul crushing.
It might have a lot to do with her frailties, though.
Those could have men in born. She was a very light eater and
appeared emaciated at times, and she found physical activity very
toxic. As we'll see, as we'll see
throughout this episode, her frailties didn't slow Aegon, her
future husband, down at all. He didn't care that what he was
doing to her was likely to kill her, and that's part of why he
was the unworthy anyway. It's tempting to It's tempting
to connect Aegon's eventual descent into lust and pleasure
seeking, which got worse pretty much with every year of his
life. Connecting that to his mother's
lysine origin is maybe something that's tempting to do.
The Lysenia are known for their pleasure houses, and the city
was originally founded as a vacation spot for the elite of
Valyrian society. Very fancy.
That is an incredibly racist thought that that that he that
he was pleasure seeking just because he's half Lyseni.
I'm very sorry to any Lyseni out there that they may have
offended. Yes, I'm not normally racist,
but those Lyseni, I swear they get me every time.
But within a year or so of Nary's birth, when Egon was
about four, Laura, his mother, returned to lease, leaving all
three of her children motherless.
We don't know why she left, but the incredibly powerful Rogare
family was devastated by a series of deaths that led to
massive decline within a generation.
Her return to lease may have been related to all of this
turmoil. I mean, it's not easy to see
your family fall from what was said to be more powerful than
the Iron Bank to a minor power at best.
But it's also not easy to abandon your three young
children. What the heck?
Yeah, right. It's really hard to fathom.
So at age 4, Agon was surely old enough to perceive this loss of
mother. You know, 4 year olds typically
want their mothers, which was certain.
So it was probably very traumatic for him and it was our
first major clue to his personality.
Amon a year, only a year younger at age 3, almost certainly felt
the trauma as well. Nares she no doubt was impacted
by life without having a mother like who wouldn't be, but she
was so young. At least she was spared the
trauma of her leaving. She she was only about a year
old, so she probably couldn't perceive what was happening.
Now of course, that's like I said, it's still going to have a
huge impact on her life, but the lack of the trauma may maybe
something that is important when we're judging these guys for
their personalities and stuff, so.
Yeah, I can't. You know, it's interesting.
I can't help but think of Rickon and Catelyn when I think of
little Aegon. That's a good point.
Catelyn never came back either.
Yeah, that's true, but I also can't help but wonder if Laura
tried to communicate or communicated with her children.
I mean, she could have sent them letters via ship pretty pretty
easily. Yeah, she's a powerful.
Yeah, someone could have read it to them.
Yeah, you'd think that maybe that was a possibility, but if
not, if that it didn't happen, it might only just deepen their
sense of loss or of abandonment. So it in either.
In any case, growing up without her probably contributed to
Aegon and Aamon developing extreme personalities.
Though they were both, they were opposites in many ways.
Aegon and Aamon, they had at least that much in common.
They're both really extreme guys.
Aegon ate and drank and counted. No day complete without a woman
in his bed now. While Aamon trained, prayed and
may have never had sex. Yeah, Aegon had an absurd number
of mistresses. While Ayman joined the
Kingsguard at an absurdly young age.
Aegon, perhaps in part because his mother may have showed no
responsibility nor love for him, felt no responsibility nor love
for anyone else, given his self-destructive tendencies that
lack extended to his own person. While Ayman felt the heavyweight
of responsibility, perhaps heightened by his brother's
constant opposite example, but his willingness to endanger
himself in the name of self sacrifice, of which will show
many examples, shows courage and a tolerance for harm that far
exceed what anyone would name typical not just among Knights,
but among anyone. Yeah, so for nares, the lack of
mother who would have had some ability to relate, Lara herself
was married to a man not of her own choosing, which is pretty,
you know, that's like par for the course for, you know, no
noble born marriages, etcetera. So but in any case, Nary's
didn't have that and she didn't have a mother who understood
her, her lot in life and her this is possibly a level.
So we're trying as far as Nary's being an extreme person as well,
while she was extremely pious and and all that.
So maybe not as extreme a personality as Aegon and Eamon
with their like ultra, you know, ultra corrupt and ultra martial,
like noble knighthood guy. Yeah, this, this, this situation
just created a lot of extreme people.
I'm not a psychiatrist. Of course you can't take these
things as, you know, the the the ramblings of someone who's got a
deep understanding of the human mind.
But I don't think it takes an expert to know that children
abandoned by their mothers and extreme tendencies go hand in
hand, or at least children abandoned by their mothers
turning out kind of awkward or, or, or, you know, or bad.
That's just, I think everyone knows that or at least is
familiar with that concept. So I don't think it's a stretch
to say that that very likely was something going on in in their
lives. Now even royal children who have
support systems like they, you know, it's not like they're not
eating or they're getting education and there's people
around to talk to, but still, you know, it's, it's nothing.
There's no substitute for a mother.
And there's nothing quite like not having one.
There's no excusing the life of Egg on the 4th.
But if you want reasons, if you want to dissect this beast, then
here's a negative prime motivator.
And not just for the children, but for the father vissaries
too, who was likewise permanently affected by her
departure. Prince Vissarius had the gift of
charm, but he himself grew stern after his wife abandoned him and
their children for her native lease.
That's a quote from The One Wise and Fire.
Yes and Vissarius was also so only 17 when this happened so he
was like this for most of his life even though he was the most
level headed and capable Targaryen of his era.
Well maybe because he was the most level headed of his era.
He had a huge weight on his shoulders.
He had a lot of crazy to make up for and a realm to manage
besides. Yeah, this is not a good recipe
for well raised children. You've got no mother, a very
young father who later became Hand of the King.
So he's very busy. And of course, you know, bears
mentioned that Targaryens kind of tend to be extreme in the 1st
place, yeah. But and so because of this,
Aegon, Amon and Nerys would have mostly been raised by Septas and
maesters and other members of court.
Yeah, kind of being raised by the village, but by a corrupt
village being raised at court doesn't sound like the best
environment for any child, really.
So these extreme personalities though, Aegon, Amon and the
quiet but also pivotal Nerys and their father, the powerful and
effective but joyless Viserys, their interactions are crucial
to the setting. They are how the Black Fire
Abelians got started. Now Aegon the 5th is called
Aegon the Unlikely, but his predecessor and our subject
Aegon the 4th was perhaps just as lucky in terms of inheriting
the throne. I mean, there was nothing lucky
about it for the realm. Yeah, it's great for the story,
though. It's funny that I suppose you
have to say that Darren the Second was just as lucky then,
because he's the son of that whole line.
Everyone, everyone was lucky. But at age 7 and 142, Aegon was
likely old enough to perceive that.
But he was second in line to the throne behind his father and
king Egg on the Third, who is aged 22 but childless at this
point. And we're told that Egg on the
Third showed signs of staying that way.
Yeah, quote. He likewise came to dislike
being touched, even by the hand of his beautiful queen.
Even after she had flowered, he was long and calling her to his
bed. Perhaps Aegon's lust for the
crown developed during this time, when it may have seemed
very close. Yeah.
But in 143, Aegon was bumped down a spot by his cousin.
His uncle, the King's son, Deron, was born.
Aegon the Third had learned to touch his queen after Yeah.
That's going to get confusing again, because Aegon the Third,
his first born was Deron. Aegon the 4th, our subject, his
first born was Deron. Both those Derons became kings
too. So yeah, these Targaryen names
can really get confusing. So we're doing our best to to
keep track of who is who. But sorry if sometimes the
Darrons and egg ONS get a little off track.
But anyway, yeah. But in so in 144 the following
year, Queen Dinera Dinera even you know, do similar to Darrons
gave birth to another boy Baylor.
There's going to be multiple Baylor's in this story as well.
So we we I would say we apologize for that.
But hey, it's George's fault. Aegon, so that with Baylor being
born, this is Baylor the blessed.
Eventually, Aegon now is fourth in line and falling.
Yeah, and in 145, the Targaryen baby parade continued with the
birth of Dana, future mother of Damon Blackfire.
But it was also the year in which Aegon's mother, Laura died
at age 30, apparently in lease, but we don't know how.
It was quite possibly as part of the ongoing fall of her house.
So if if Egon and Amon and Aries had hopes of their mother
returning, which seems likely that, you know, being young
children and all that, those hopes were dashed, that may have
been another trauma for them all to have lived through finding
out that their mother died when they're all really young still.
So now, by the time Aegon was, yeah, about 10 years old, he was
still behind three other Princess, as we said, the King's
two young sons, both younger than him and his own father, the
series, who was also still a young man himself.
So the crown just looked remote. We're really trying to drive
that point home. Additionally, King Aegon the
Third was only 25 or so, and Queen Dinero had born many
children already, showing herself really no capable of
more. That's at the.
Time. Stop there.
Yeah, one would think Aegon more likely to fall farther behind in
the line of succession, then get closer.
The king could easily have another son, and Aegon would be
behind any of the King's grandsons if Daron or Baylor
ever had sons of their own. Right.
You wouldn't have guessed, necessarily, that Daron and
Baylor would have no sons, but they did.
Apparently, though, despite this distance forth in line and
falling, as we said, we're told that Aegon coveted the crown.
He eventually got his wish through a chain of events that
contained odd fortune, of course, and possibly murder.
The king and Aegon's father, the Hand, were also troubled by
several pretenders, literal and figurative.
Well, yeah, both at the same time, really.
These were men who claimed to be Deron the Daring, another Deron.
Hey, former writer of Tessarian, the Blue Queen.
That's a great name. Obviously that's the name of a
dragon if you haven't read the pitches in the Queen.
I had I had Tassarian as my URL on Tumblr for a while.
I like the name of Tassarian also.
It was a beautiful scene with Tassarian.
And yeah, it's very sad. It's very sad.
Anyway, the younger, so he was the younger brother, This Daron
the Daring was the younger brother of Aegon the Second.
Another Aegon Daron was killed during the Dance of the Dragons.
So what's going on here? Well, people were claiming to be
him, and so they were pretending to be Daron, who was a pretender
to the throne. So that's a lot of Daron, but.
What with these multiple double pretenders and the King having
named his own first born Daron, the father of the Queen was
Daron Valerian. The Daronocity of the court was
out of control. There was much Daron.
Yeah, it's just it's overwhelming all the Daron.
So these rebellions were surely not huge problems by themselves,
but the implication is important.
Gone were the days when many rebellions that may have
happened probably were called off, or the the conspirators
realized we can't rebel. There's Dragons, but at this
point the royal family only had small Dragons and wild Dragons.
Nothing fit for war, nothing particularly threatening.
And this is unprecedented for the Targaryen range.
So while the Brown was adapting to being dragonless, our Aegon
was growing up like the Mad King.
The Unworthy was promising at first, yeah.
We hear this quote. He had been calmly in his youth,
skilled with Lance and sword, a man who loved hunt and hawk and
dance. He was the brightest Prince at
court in his generation and was admired for his whip.
But he quite obviously could not control his urges.
The lust that he became notorious for ruled him as king,
and unsurprisingly, it ruled him long before he took the throne
as well. Now a lot of factors contributed
to naval egons gradually increasing appetites.
Though he coveted the crown, he was surely aware of the growing
distance between himself and the throne.
He had few responsibilities, few prospects, no office, no need to
work, no mother, what was likely an absent father, and all the
advantages that come from being born a handsome, skilled,
charming Prince. So everything he needed, but
nothing good. So he earned fame for having
many mistresses and bastards, and he got started early in
building that reputation. In 149, at age 14, he began an
affair with Lady Felina Stokeworth.
When they were caught two years later, she was quickly married
off to the Master of Arms, Lucas Lawston, and he was granted the
Castle of Harrenhal and thus was born house lost in.
Yeah, this was the Viserys's own master at arms, so it's a little
odd. We're not sure if Viserys had
land or maybe he just had a he had his own master at arms
because his sons were young Princess.
It's not really clear, but it's also not terribly important.
It's kind of an interesting detail, but regardless, this
distance that was put between him and his mistress, this would
be the first example of him showing that obstacles don't
really get in his way when when his lust is, you know, in the
balance. The next two years he simply
just began visiting Lady Fellaina over at Harrenhal and
which, you know, it is not that far away.
So he probably went kind of often.
Yeah, they probably should have sent her somewhere more distant.
Yeah, like the Riverlands is like, that's just so close.
Yeah, she's sending it north or Dorn or something like that.
Yeah. It's not just a week or two,
right. Weeks right away I.
Couldn't have sent it to Dorn yet.
That's true. So by extension as well, Lord
Lucas son Manfred, who is Lord of Harrenhal during the first
Blackfyre Rebellion could be Aegon's son.
All the the children of Falena Stokeworth, their parentages is
very up in the air. We don't know.
We don't even know when this Manfred was born however.
So that's a kind of a thin thread, but still very
interesting if true. Aegon was never really
challenged as a youth, though important things did happen
around him and major events transpired throughout the realm.
They didn't really have much of anything to do with him.
Adversity existed, just not for Aegon.
This is in stark contrast to his father, a man who grew up a
hostage who spent his whole life working hard.
One thing Aegon and his father did have in common, not the best
thing to have in common, but a thing in common nonetheless, was
the lack of mother. Laura, of course, left as we
covered, while Viserys mother Aegon's grandmother, was eaten
by Sunfire the Golden during the Dance of the Dragons.
Pleasant. So the year 153 was a momentous
year in Targaryen history, and for Aegon himself, who is now 18
years old, he seemed to have slowed his visits to her and
all, perhaps in connection to his new state as his husband.
Early in the year, he married his sister Nerys, A delicate
girl still and pious, more like in personality, to her cousin
Reyna or Bail for the Blessed, or their mutual brother Prince
Amon the Dragon Knight, who was said to be the only one who
could make her laugh. This closeness between Amon and
Nares no doubt contributed to the rumors of King Darren's
parentage years later. Now it hardly needs saying that
Nares was a terrible match for the lustful corrupt egg on the
unworthy. Of course, at that at this point
he had yet to earn that nickname.
He was still a promising Prince at this point, so a major
weakness for women was something he could probably get away with.
That's not altogether uncommon, and it wasn't.
It hadn't reached the epic levels it would reach later,
though. Nerys was likely embarrassed by
Aegon's, you know, dalliances and Amon was surely angered by
it, as protective as he was. But it is sad, even in current
times, that Nerys wept at her bedding and that the brothers,
Aimon, Aegon quarrel during the wedding.
So there was some unpleasantness there as well.
Just after the marriage, Amon joined the Kingsguard at the
ripe old age of 17. The Dragon Knight earned his
nickname in part because of the dragon on his helm.
The name may have come around during this time as well.
Despite the poor match, Marys did bear Aegon a child on the
last day of 153. It was a boy, and they named him
Daron, of course. And obviously his cousin Daron,
the future young dragon, was about 10 at the time and heir to
the throne. So it's perhaps a little odd to
have all those Darons, but Daron would conquer Dorne by age 16.
That's the young dragon Daron, not Aegon's son.
And this may have and and the young dragon convinced the great
Lords of the realm to accept his plan to attack Dorne when he was
only 14. So what I'm getting at is that
he may have been a very impressive 10 year old, and
maybe Aegon, the future unworthy, decided to name his
son after this promising cousin of his.
But in any case, it's pretty weird to have a second Daron in
the royal family at the same time.
But hey, that's the Targaryens for you.
So he may have been named his. So Aegon may have named his son
after the young dragon, but he may have named him after Queen
Daenera, possibly a motherly figure for him, maybe because
she was around and she was a mother to the other Princess.
So it's possible something like that happened, but we don't know
how long she lived. But she was also only six years
older than him, so maybe not the best motherly figure.
Maybe she was too young. Or maybe Aegon liked all of
those tales of Daron the daring who inspired so many pretenders.
It could have even been his his sense of humor.
Yeah. Gary's nearly died from the
pregnancy and labor and was told by Grandmaester Alford that
another baby might kill her, she supposedly said.
I have done my duty by you and given you an air.
I beg you, let us live henceforth as brother and
sister. That is what we are doing, he
replied. The Dragon Knight and Nares were
said to be inseparable, not only fanning the rumors of a
relationship between them, highlighting a major reason for
Amon to despise his brother. Aegon never ceased sleeping with
Nerys, despite the warnings from maesters and numerous brushes
with death. Numerous.
Yes, there would be more. This must have infuriated Prince
Amon, the Dragon Knight, who had to put up with seeing his
brother repeatedly endanger their sister's life merely to
satisfy his lust. Now the final major event of
153, perhaps the most important of all, was the last Targaryen
dragon dying. Surely Damon Blackfire would
never have risen against the Targaryen King with dragon.
I mean. Unless he had his own, of
course. That would have been
interesting. Would have had to be a black
dragon right now. Because of this instinction,
King Aegon the Third became known as the Dragon Bane.
It wasn't for lack of trying though, they were attempts to
have to hatch Dragons. There were no Summer Hall type
events that we know of, but the world of Ass and Fire does use
the phrase debacle and failure, so there's that.
Yeah, Aegon the Unworthy might have been witness to these
attempts, and he surely heard much of much of them, even if he
didn't know me. Perhaps the the gory details.
And this despite him being busy with his next mistress, Mary
Meg, whom he was with for most of 155 to 159.
Yeah, Aegon wound up having four daughters with her, all of whom
his father had trained his septus.
There are some pretty songs about Mary Meg, but her death
was not so pretty, no. Or Mary no.
Aegon had taken her from a blacksmith, who then beat her to
death when the Prince ended their relationship.
Now, halfway through that whole affair, in 157, King Egon the
Third died of tuberculosis, also known as consumption.
He had ruled for 26 years, but he was only 36 years old.
Wow. And with his death, his eldest
son inherited so. So let's move on to Part 2, the
conquest of Doran, reign of Darren the 1st.
When he first proposed to complete the conquest by
bringing Doran into the realm at last, his Lords reminded him
that, unlike the Conqueror and his sisters, he had no more
Dragons fit for war. Well, no more Dragons at all,
really. That's a that quote's a little
funny there. To this, Daron famously
responded. You have a dragon, he stands
before you. He's the guy.
Had a guy, had confidence. Agon the Third's eldest son
became King Daron the 1st, and he set his mind succeeding where
his ancestor, Agon the Conqueror had failed.
He intended to conquer Dorn, and fast.
He got started so quickly that it's pretty much beyond certain
that he had it in mind from a younger age, younger than 4P.
At first he he did indeed add Doran to the realm, doing
without Dragons what his ancestors couldn't do with it.
And again at age 14. The war was over by about the
time he was 16, but still started when he was 14.
And he won. It's crazy.
Of course, Egg on the Conqueror was 27 when he began his
conquest. So so this this dare on get
started early. The conquest of Doran and the
life of the young dragon is surely a topic worthy of a
separate episode someday. Yet another as us, yet
advertising yet another episode during an episode.
Now, for now, it will suffice to understand its impact on the
Iron Thrones relationship with Thorn.
Not just the politics, but the personal relationships, the
attitudes that drove the major events behind the scenes, all
leading to the Blackfyre rebellions.
This is a concept you are familiar with all the same, A
Song of Ice and Fire slash Game of Thrones fans know this well.
Kingdoms can earn invasion over no more than a personal grudge.
Wars can be fought over the love of a woman, sibling rivalry, or
just the whim of a capricious ruler.
Without the Young Dragons war with Doran, there would not have
been Baylor's grand gestures of apology and peace which included
a royal marriage. Cornish influence at court was a
major cause of the Black Fire Rebellion.
It was a huge sore spot for many Westerassi who had become
accustomed to the Targaryen rule and or those who hate the
Dornish, especially the Marcher Lords who have considered the
Dornish enemies for Eon. As it was, Darren the first took
Sun Spear by 158 and pacified the rebel Lords by 159.
Considering the War One at that point, this would have involved
running all over Dorn in the deserts, facing guerrilla
tactics. Thirst, no comforts, you know,
military campaigning in the desert, that's just, that's just
rough. So Prince Aim and the dragon
knight unsurprisingly shined above all, save perhaps the king
himself. He jumped in front of a poisoned
arrow aimed at Deron, but survived.
So already he's showing the devotion and extreme bravery and
self sacrifice that we alluded to earlier to ensure the loyalty
of his newly conquered subjects. The young dragon took hostages
from the noble, some of the noble families.
Pretty standard practice. Now Aegon are Aegon, who we
assume fought in this war because of his skills and youth
and he was around 22 at the time, was somehow allowed to be
in charge of the hostages when they were brought back to King's
Landing. So possibly this is evidence
that Aegon was close with the young dragon.
I mean they were cousins and they're both royal Princess.
And if he Aegon carried himself in the war, well, that would
certainly enamour him to dare on as well as the, you know, naming
his son the same name. So maybe that's why he got this
job. Maybe Daron was looked past his,
you know, in his impropriety with women and gave them gave
him charge of these hostages, which included several women.
So unsurprisingly, he developed a relationship with one of these
hostages. It's unclear if this this
particular mistress, Lady Casella Vaith, replaced Mary Meg
or if Aegon had already parted from her, and it gets a little
interesting to figure this out. We can't ignore the timing of
the war and the fact the timeline appears to show Viserie
sending away Mary, Meg and her daughters while Aegon was off
warring with King Darren and Doran.
If this is true, that while Aegon was off and Doran, his
father, you know, sent his mistress off and put his
daughters with that mistress in a, you know, as Septas, you
know, against his knowledge or not knowing that you could have
held a grudge for that. And this'll that'll be important
later on. The relationship between Aegon
and his father, well, they aren't very alike, so it's
pretty important. Either way, Aegon may have made
himself an early enemy in House Faith as Casella was set to pine
for him for the rest of her life.
Though this may have really mattered very little in the
grand scheme of things, as all of Dorn would come to have many
reasons to dislike him and his family.
Of course, they had just been conquered after all, and that
alone would sow permanent hatred for House Targaryen and some not
just among those taken hostage. And anyway, the traditional
hostage taking strategy didn't even work as the commoners
fueled rebellion on their own, having very little care for the
highborn hostages lives at King's Landing with their
independence in the balance. And also, in a political blunder
that again reminds us of the Young Wolf, the Young Dragon
installed a Tyrell Lord Lionel as governor of Dorn.
A Tyrell in charge of Dorn. Dornish men tend to hate Tyrells
and vice versa, so, as could easily be expected, Lord Lionel
did not treat his charge with care.
Perhaps you all remember the tale of the Lord Tyrell, who
tried to summon a woman by pulling on a silk sash above his
bedpost, only to have a bunch of scorpion fall on him and kill
him. Yep, stories like this this
would not help Dornish non relations going forward.
And I know what you're some of you were thinking.
Dorn was defending itself and trying to regain independence.
Dropping a bunch of scorpions on someone's head.
Really it is nothing compared to your how old country being
conquered. And hey, the event took place at
Sandstone, seat of House Corgile, whose sigil is 3
scorpions. It's said they used over 30
sigils worth of the deadly creatures to be sure.
He died 30 sigils worth. That's a new, great new
measurement there. So.
But the point is that people are hypocrites.
Even though the Seven Kingdoms attacked Dorn and the Dornish
pushed them off, people are still going to hate the Dornish
for fighting for their independence, even though it was
the West Rossi, the Northern W Rossi who provoked it all.
So despite the Dornish having, you know, a right to break free,
most of Westeros is not going to see it that way, especially
House Tyrell. The one would think with Lord
Tyrell's death, rebellion broke out quickly and the young dragon
returned to put it down again and again.
He showed his prowess in the field and he forced Dorn into
negotiating A surrender. But the surrender was a trap and
he was killed during the parlay. Now there's no reason to believe
that Aegon was there for this parlay.
He he know he was probably part of the first stage of the war,
but we don't see any evidence that he was part of the second
phase, the putting down the rebellion, especially because of
what happened to all these people who was there.
His brother Amon the dragon knight.
Amon was captured and though Aegon didn't seem to get along
well with Amon and he they didn't share much in common at
all, it doesn't mean he didn't have issues with the Dornish
capturing his brother. So it's hard to say because of
all those things, it's hard to say what he actually thought
about his brother being taken captive.
Yeah, did he? I mean, like most families take
it as a point of House pride that one of theirs is captive.
Captive of the enemy. Well, maybe he just didn't care.
You know, or maybe he found some kind of perverse pleasure in it.
Yeah, there's a lot of pretty much that's a wide open group of
possibilities there now. Darren's incredible record as a
battle commander made him hero to characters like Jon Snow and
Robb Stark, who we said there's a lot of comparisons to.
And despite this ultimate failure, perhaps he was hero to
Aegon and or Aemon as well, despite being younger.
This could be part of why Aegon hates the Dornish, which he
definitely does. And now there's a strong
parallel here as well. The Young Wolf, preceded long
ago by the young dragon, both won glory in battle while dying
still young through treachery. Unlike Rob, Deron had never
married and he ruled for only four years.
And like King Rob Star, King Daron had no children, so his
brother became King Baylor, the first later known as Baylor the
Blessed. Or Baylor.
They befuddled. Opinions vary greatly on this
next monarch. Part 3 Lost enough to kill a
king Reign of Baylor the 1st. He was a rare spirit, pure and
brave and innocent, untouched by all the evils of the world.
Is what some would say, but others would call him.
The feeblest king, whoever sat the Iron Throne.
Yeah, real polarizing figure, this Baylor, though, the
incredibly pious Baylor. The Blessed Reign is also, like
a lot of these other Targaryen kings, a story unto itself.
Like the young dragon, like Egon the third dragon Bane.
We'll try not to try too much. Remember what our focuses are
here, set up for the first Black Fire Rebellion.
Openly, the rebellion was about Damon Blackfyre versus Daron the
Second Targaryen. It was about several big
personalities, A deathbed proclamation, and opposing
ideals on what a king should be. Those are the headlines, the
attention grabbing details. But it was also about Dorn, the
changes in the royal family. Xenophobia, an ancient enemy not
just made part of the realm, but elevated above all others into
the royal family. The seeds for this were planted
during Baylor's reign and began to bear fruit just as he died.
So again, the Iron Thrones relationship with Dorn is
crucial to the setting, and Aegon's early years are a part
of it all, despite his own impact being minimal at this
stage. Take your pick of the reasons.
The bottom line is Aegon hated Dorn.
We know that for a for a fact it's it's spelled out precisely
in the World of Ice and Fire. It doesn't seem to be any room
for doubt there. As King, the impact of this
hatred would be huge. Of course, then and there's the
matter of all those bastards of his who also had their own
issues with Dorn or not, the most important of whom will be
born during Baylor's reign. And Aegon's first grandson is
about to show up too. But first, Baylor inherited a
major decision what to do about his brother King Daron's murder.
The Dragon Knight is in captivity.
Most likely both Targaryen ancestral blades are captured.
Hand of the King Viserys is calling for the execution of the
hostages. Now this may have further
frustrated Aegon's relationship with his father, but it's this
also seems far from certain. Pagan may have been disgusted
with the Dornish himself over the murder or simply bored of
Casella on his own, so he gave her up one way or the other.
Now we talked about how the young dragon was a hero to so
many, but to the Dornish he was probably some sort of evil
military child prodigy while the land subject to the Iron Throne
were busy. Comparing Garen the First to
Aegon the Conqueror, I bet the Dornish had kind of the opposite
view. They were probably thinking of
him more like Aegon, or rather Magor the Cruel.
All that with his youth and his aggressiveness and warlike
nature. I mean, he didn't have the
insanity, or maybe he did, actually, but he didn't seem to
have. He certainly didn't have Megor's
level of insanity. And it's easy to forget that
Daron's invasion of Dorn broke a peace treaty that Eggman the
Conqueror himself signed. This treaty pledged, quote,
eternal peace. So as stubborn and fiercely
independent as the Dornish are, it, it seems likely enough that
Darren did a few nasty things during the war to, you know, set
examples to keep them in line, that, you know, you do nasty
enough things it keeps people from, you know, acting out.
And the Dornish are stubborn, and that's not going to work.
So it's just kind of this cycle of violence.
So we saw also that Darren didn't exactly seem to have a
delicate touch for politics by putting the Tyrell in charge
over the Dornish. That's one of the best examples
possible is like the guy like Robb Stark didn't seem to have
the greatest hold on politics. Great with the commanding, but
you know, so the persistent peace between Dorne and the Iron
Throne was shattered by this completely unprovoked invasion
and subsequent conquest. So thousands of lost lives.
We're talking uncountable deaths of vengeance.
We're talking bloody revenge sworn and passed down to future
generations. It's it's Westeros karma.
So the Dornish would suspect future Targaryens of misrule Ken
to dare on the 1st. So picture this you've got.
Even when Doran was brought into the realm peaceably, you still
have people that are remembering the time when the Iron Throne
was briefly in charge of them. And what did they do with that?
They put a Tyrell in charge. Like all you got to do is
imagine some Dornish Lords thinking we really want these
guys in charge of us. Look how look how bad they
handled. It but it gets more complicated
because during the years of 161 to 171, while Aegon was
maintaining his busy travel heavy Playboy princeling
lifestyle, King Baylor was trying his best to repair the
relationship with Doran, making dramatic gestures while also
attempting to create a lasting peace through marriage.
And this marriage involved R Aegon's own first born Daron,
who became betrothed to Princess Mariah Martella.
Aegon, of course, later would try to undo Baylor's positive
results. It's kind of a back and forth.
You got Deron ruining the relationship, Baylor trying to
fix it, and then later Aegon will try to ruin it again.
But we still have a few years before some of those things.
Happen, Deron. Will and then Deron will fix it
again, right The next Aeron. So yeah, it's just and then then
Doron's part of the realm and then there, well, then there's
the rebellions and then blah blah.
Basically, it's never, never peaceful between Doran and the
Iron Throne, even when Doran is part of the the Iron Throne, as
the Song of Ice and Fire tells you.
But in the meantime, we're not quite there yet.
So in the up to that point, we still have the unworthy spending
large amounts of time in of Baylor's reign in Braavos,
sleeping with the Black Pearl. How do you say her name?
Do you say Belagere? Otheris Belagere?
Belagere. I don't know how to say her
name. Belgere, I don't know.
It's a cool name. I even though I don't know how
to. Say it like either of them,
maybe someone knows, Maybe we should have tried to see if
there's any real world name similar to it.
Yeah, but I say Rogare. So I like Belgare a little bit.
I don't know. I like that, Gary.
Yeah, Italian somehow, Yeah. But Aegon was sent there as an
envoy. But part of King Baylor and or
Prince Prince Amon and their father Prince Viserys is
thinking was to get him away from Nerys.
Yeah, there may have been a bit of a pattern, actually, with the
timing of Nerys's pregnancies. They seem to coincide with when
he doesn't have a mistress. It's it's almost like Aegon gets
when he doesn't have a mistress. He's like, well, my wife is the
fall back plan and basically all the pregnancies seem to fall
right around the time when he didn't have a mistress.
That's a that's a that's a catch by Ray's Targaryen there.
So it looks like he went his turned his attention back to
Narius after he lost Casella Vaith when the hostages were
sent back to Doran by King Baylor Nerys, however.
Yeah, Nerys gave birth to some twins in 161 and she was again
in danger of death due to the exertions of the labor.
The twins themselves died. So the idea was send Egon off to
Bravos so he can't be, you know, trying to sleep with his sister
who really can't handle another pregnancy at this point.
So it would allow her to recover without interference.
And Agon, of course, as we said, is very stubborn about claiming
his marriage, right? So even when his threatened his
sister's life so. And, you know, it's really smart
that they sent him off. As you know, as we've seen and
as he's just said, he has a pattern of getting past these
minor barriers in the pursuit of women.
For example, despite all that time far away, he still managed
a few stops in between at Harrenhal to visit his former,
more regular mistress, Felina Stokeworth.
She was born a Stokeworth, but she was now the First Lady lost
in, and this too would become important later as Felina, like
several of Aegon's mistresses, all mistresses, really, was
ambitious. She was, yes, Felina had a child
who had the official name of Jane lost in and many believed,
but many believed rather that Aegon was Jane's father.
So she'll appear later in this episode.
But first, we have to give her a little time to grow.
Up Be patient with Baby Jane. The Black Fire Rebellion was
never about one particular incident or problem, as the
World of Ice Fire tells us. There was no final insult, no
great wrong that led Damon Blackfyre to turn against Team
Daron. Of the major causes of the
rebellion, well, we've covered the large scale relationship
that drove events, mostly Dorne and the Iron Throne, but the
personal relationships are probably of even greater
importance. In a lot of ways they're more
interesting. Aegon was said to have 9 great
loves in his life, Mary's sister, wife, not one of them.
They didn't get along very well as we show.
As we pointed out, and this is well known, not only did they
not get along, in other words, everybody knew they didn't get
along. And of course that seemed the
approach seemed obvious to people in knowing the
differences in their personalities.
But much later when King Aegon would make use of the open
secret of this open secret to fuel the rumors that he was not
Darren's father. In other words, Eamonn and
Narius time together was part of, you know what he used to
start those rumors. So as you can see, how much that
would shape it matters further down the timeline was happening
before Damon Blackfyre was even born.
And as to that, as to Damon Blackfyre, A memorable and
particularly relevant feature of King Baylor's reign was the
relationship, or lack thereof, with his sister, wife, and their
other two sisters. He shunned Dana and had her
cloistered with Elena and Raina in what came to be known as the
Maiden Ball. He never consummated the
marriage and actually had it a null.
Jaime Lannister himself shares an opinion here.
The realm would have been and better served if he had closed
his eyes and fucked her. I know enough history to know
that. In an odd turn of events,
Aegon's lust became part of his lucky ascent to the throne.
The Maiden Vault in quotes air quotes was clearly not egg on
the unworthy proof, another obstacle easily overmatched by
his lust. Apparently only female nobility
and servants were allowed in the place, but as Judge Ober and
Martel told the accused Tyrion Lannister.
Princess are permitted to go where they will, or so I told
your guards. John would not have been have
any trouble getting past the maiden vault guards either.
I'm thinking even if they wore the white cloak.
Or it could have been other way around.
Dana is said to have escaped the main vault at least three times.
Maybe she found Aegon. Yeah, maybe she's looked.
He was good looking. It's true she he was for a time.
Maybe that's why Dana was not named as one of the 9 loves of
his life either. She got disgusted with him when
we started to, well, become disgusting.
Yeah, she was. She liked Deron the 1st and his
martial nature. Kind of the opposite, right?
Regardless though, the irony here is pretty amazing.
The Maiden Vault was supposed to keep these women from causing
sinful thoughts by keeping them out of sight and to keep men
from having access to them, and instead it created Damon
Blackfire. The egg on the maiden vault was
no barrier. It's more like, hey, here is a
place where there are a lot of beautiful women who never get
male attention or even company, and hey, they can't leave or
keep me out. Also, I'm a I'm a charming,
handsome Targaryen Prince. You sure are.
He had an affair with Dana and this maiden in the maiden vault
developed signs of a very unmaidenly pregnancy.
Just like that, Damon Black Fire was conceived.
Well, it wasn't just like that. It just a little.
It probably took a little time. A couple minutes.
Damon gained everlasting fame, but his mother, Dana, wasn't
exactly a nobody. She became known as Dana the
Defiant, and she earned her nickname by refusing to tell
King Baylor or anyone that Aegon was the father, though it was
apparently suspected. Yeah, the truth would come out
eventually, but in the immediate, in the immediate
short term, nobody knew who the Father was.
And Baylor the Blessed, always looking for an opportunity to
show godliness through masochism, was inspired to a 41
day fast at the birth of Damon. Damon Waters before he This is
before he got the name Damon Blackfire.
And this 41 day fast killed him. Shockingly, you don't eat for 41
days and you die. Well, how about?
That, I guess Jamie was right. If Baylor had just consummated
his marriage, there never would have been a Damon Blackfire.
Agon, as unworthy as he was, is not so likely to try to sleep
with the actual queen. That's what we mean by saying if
he had, if Baylor had consummated his marriage, it's a
good chance Aegon might have been able to control himself and
not try to sleep with the actual queen.
Because that's not just a scandal, that's treason.
It didn't stop him from accusing his honorable brother, the
Dragon Knight, of that exact crime later, however.
Of course, of course, referring to him accusing his brother of
of fathering Jaron the Second rather than Aegon himself.
Now, around the same time, probably a few months before
Damon was born, Aegon, who was only about 36 himself at the
time, saw the birth of his first grandchild, a boy who would one
day play a key role in defeating Damon Blackfyre's army.
So obviously he's a big part of the story as well.
He was known as Bail or a confusing yes, and he was named
for the his pious great uncle who hadn't quite died yet and
was later known as Baylor Breakspear very.
He was a probably would have been a much better king than
Baylor the Blessed or any of these guys really.
But. Though nothing like the stir
around the stir around Damon Waters a.
Little pun there, yeah. Young Baylor's birth would was
controversial too, though it was obvious that the King would have
no children. So it was only a matter of time
before our Aegon became King and young Baylor would be in line to
inherit, throwing himself down the line.
The problem was that young Baylor break spear didn't look
like a Targaryen. He looked Dornish.
And that was problem especially for people who don't like
Dornish people. Now they're like, are we really
going to be ruled by this guy? That's sad because Baylor was an
amazing person, but most notably the thing about the thing about
Baylor that looked non Targaryen or did look Dornish was his
hair. He didn't have the silver gold
hair of Targaryens, he had just regular dark hair.
Yeah, he looked like his mother, that more than his father, And
this confirmed what many around the realm had feared for a
while, and he instilled new fear and perhaps loathing in those
who hadn't. There was now a Direct Line to
the Iron Throne for Adornish men as Baylor Brakespeare.
Brakespeare was seen by many. Right.
He's half Targaryen, but he looks Dornish, and that's just
how people think. Yeah.
So that's just, you know, people would think of him as Dornish
just because of how he looks, even though that's just kind of
silly. But that's how it works.
We don't make the rules. Yeah, it's like in it's like in
real, real world mixed children, some of them are.
Some of them they look whiter, some of them look blacker.
And they they're seen very differently because.
Of that, that's very true. And it just, yeah, really,
really, it's amazing how much in the real world, just how you
look can impact your, your, your life and your future.
And certainly George has captured that well that that
aspect of reality very well here in this part of the story.
And it's going to be a rub going forward.
You'll see how important this is that the whole Dornish influence
court is. So many people just really hated
that. In the meantime, however,
though, fasting seems to be the blame for bail or the bless his
death. I mean 41 days without eating
seems like that would kill you. One day without eating.
And there are whispers that he was poisoned.
Despite the kind of straightforward sounding manner
of his death, The World of Ice and Fire mentions a specific
source among several as well as multiple possible motives for
this murder. Malicious rumors that followed
in the wake of the series's ascension, begun some say by the
pen of Lady Mayas, of how Stokeworth suggested that the
series poisoned the king in order to finally gain the throne
after a decade and more of waiting.
Now the name how? Stokeworth in this context
really jumps out because it Viserys, who was probably hand
at this point or at the point I'm about to describe, was the
one who created house lost in from the from his master at arms
and Felina Stokeworth Stokeworth that's Aegon's first mistress.
So recall as well that Aegon continued to visit Felina even
after he became married and moved on to other mistresses.
So they they were on good terms still, probably because Aegon
still very lustful and Felina was still very ambitious.
So thinking conspiratorial are conspiratorially if is that a
real word? The rumors about King Viserys
and poison it seems may have been spread as part of a plot of
some kind. And you can see where it all
came from because of the Stokeworth Aegon connection.
And we talked about how Aegon didn't like his father.
Can see it in this quote. Others have suggested that
Viserys poisoned Baylor for the good of the realm since the
Septon King had come to believe that the Seven called on him to
convert all the unbeliever unbelievers in his realm.
This would have led to a war with the North and the Iron
Islands that would have caused great turmoil.
So is this extra motivation an invention to further incriminate
Viserys, or was it a legitimate possibility?
I mean, a war like that, if Baylor really had declared the
that the North and the Iron Islands had to take the Seven.
He might have been the worst king.
Then then yeah, that's true. That may have nominated him.
So if if so, that with that in mind, it actually does make
sense that someone could, you know, decide to kill him just to
avoid that kind of debacle. But we of course, can't know for
sure. Now, eventually, Aegon himself
would be accused of poisoning his father of a series to get
the throne. So we have the series being
named as a possible poisoner of Baylor and then Aegon possibly
poisoning the series. But I I think there might be
another way to look at it. It with the rumors about
Viserius poisoning Baylor have some merit.
Viserius was his hand for 10 years.
I don't, I don't know if that fits.
But Aegon himself wants to get to the throne, which we know he
did. You know, maybe he just decided
to kill his way to the throne, murder his own father, murder
Baylor. What better, and what better way
to hide his own complicity in Baylor's murder than by casting
the blame on his father? And if, if this is the case, it
really worked, the series is not remembered fondly despite being
such an effective hand. This poisoning rumor seems to be
a big part of why. Yeah, we have another
conversation between Tyrion and Oberon that gives us shed some
light on it, the Prince laughed. The series hardly reigned a
fortnight. He reigned more than a year,
said Tyrion. Oberon gave a shrug.
A year or a fortnight? What does it matter?
He poisoned his own nephew to gain the throne and then did
nothing once he had it. So it seems that Tyrion's is the
scholar's opinion, while Oberon's is the popular one.
The series He was permanently scandalized, whatever the truth
may be. Yeah, after all, after all that,
you may, some of you may have a burning question in your mind.
Wait a SEC, guys. How could Baylor have been
poisoned if he was fasting? How do you poison food that
isn't being eaten? Well, technically, Baylor was
eating a little bit of bread, apparently, and he was
definitely drinking water. And hey, guys, we're aware.
And you're aware that there are poisons in the world of A Song
of Ice and Fire that have no flavor.
So yeah, it's definitely possible.
Murdered or not, Baylor the Blessed was a controversial
figure, though Baylor could not have heirs, having taken
Septon's vows. He was young 27 when he died.
He was younger than Aegon, don't forget.
Yeah, Aegon probably didn't like what?
That Baylor had married his only legitimate son to the Dornish,
whom again, he hated, and that may have been done without his
knowledge as well. When Baylor did his long walk
through the desert to Sunspier, when he got to Sunspier, he
arranged, he negotiated the marriage of Mariah Martel to
Aegon's son Daron. Aegon may have been off in
Bravos or back to King's Land, and he certainly wasn't taking
the walk with Baylor. So yet another thing for him to
either have a, you know, another grievance for him against either
his uncle or his his uncle, his cousin or his father.
That all it all fits together pretty nicely.
Now on the other hand, it's no question that the future King
Deron the Second approved of his Dornish wife Mariah Martel, and
together they at least supported Baylor's peaceful policies
towards Dorn openly. It was said that Baylor arranged
the marriage, though possibly his more capable uncle handed
the king to Sirius was responsible.
And if that's the case, then again, another reason for Akon
to be mad at his father. Regardless, Daron would continue
Baylor's policies of bringing Doran into the realm via
peaceful means, and we can safely assume that Mariah, a
Princess of Sun Spear, preferred the same to war.
You can tell what side I'm on in the matter, going all the way.
I of course I'm wearing a. Greyjoy.
Greyjoy shirt which really isn't relevant at all.
Not relevant and my Greyjoy mug. I'm just all Greyjoy.
That's relevant. You would not have liked Baylor
if Baylor had tried to to convert that's.
True I'm I'm drown God forever. But at this time, however, Daron
and Mariah didn't really have a lot of clout themselves.
They lacked lands and armies, you know, et cetera.
They knew they might get their chance to continue Baylor's work
someday, however. Because yeah, they hoped, and
they had a good reason to think so.
Because even though Baylor was now dead, that meant means that
our Agon is now heir to the throne, meaning that Daron and
his wife were only one step behind Part four, one step from
the crown, the reign of Viserys the Second.
Baylor starved himself to death fasting, said Tyrion.
His uncle served him loyally, his Hand as he had served the
young dragon before him. The series might only have
reigned a year, but he ruled for 15 while Darren Lord and Baylor
prayed. That's right.
That's why Viserys get such a It's so unfair for Viserys to
get such a bad rap. He was.
He was, he, he kept the realm of, of together during the
craziness of Darren's assault on Dorne and Baylor's just general
craziness. But everyone just remembers him
for supposedly poisoning the crazy Septon king.
So Aegon bore witness to the ascent of his own father Viserys
Hand for the previous 3 kings and now King Viserys the second
sitter. All that all those things that
that Viserys had to work, all the things he had to, you know,
cover for and all those craziness he had to make up for
the lack of political skills with Darren.
The 1st and and and really stands out.
Man, then he had to deal with the well meaning but clearly
reality challenge Baylor the first, who didn't understand
basic human needs like, say, food, and who told The Citadel
to replace all the messenger Ravens with doves.
He was pretty great for keeping the peace, but he also did
completely nuts, so things like that.
And maybe not so great for keeping the peace if he was
about to, you know, cause a big religious war.
But again, we don't know if that was actually true.
The old saying the king eats the hand takes the shit.
Indeed. The series was on the Privy
quite often, and for a long time now he had a chance to rule
instead of, you know, being the guy who had to sit on the
toilet. It's said that he had the
potential to be another Jairus conciliator, which is an
interesting thing to say about a guy that so many people
remembered so badly. If only though, in another year
or so if Vassaris 2 would be dead of what was called a sudden
illness, so we will never know what kind of king he really did.
Much later, it was whispered that the son may have had
something to do with the death of the father, and it seems not
unlikely since Aegon was said to desire the crown as a boy.
He seems to have had motive, and because his father forcefully
ended so many of his affairs, perhaps he had sufficient
resentment too. Yeah, again recap some of the
the reasons that Aegon had to be upset again.
Vassaris sent away his mistress, Mary Meg married off Lady Felina
sent his daughters with Mary Meg to the face.
There may have been admonitions. We got to figure that Aegon
being the kind of guy he was and Viserys being this hard working
kind of keep everything together, you know, straight
edge kind of guy. I got to feel, I got to think
that he probably had some words for his his son being like, hey,
straighten up and fly right, You know, stop being such a, you
know, sleeping around drinking corrupt guy.
I'm sure he was had some words for him.
It's like the whores are extinct.
So basically, he may have even shamed him.
He may have Viserys may have done things to, you know,
embarrass him and to try, you know, try different things.
You know, like Tywin Lannister's.
He requires a sharp lesson. You know, it may have been
Viserys may have done some things like that for Aegon.
Who knows? Now, it may have been, again, it
may have been Baylor, but Aegon's father probably had a
lot to do with the marriage of Deron to Princess Mariah.
So again, this is a long list of things for Aegon to be upset
about, plus several between the lines that we probably aren't
aware of because it's not like these characters lives are fully
detailed year to year. There's a lot in between the
lines and a lot we just don't know.
But we can make a lot of really educated guesses because we know
so much about their personalities and and things
like that. Yeah, Aegon.
Pretty much, definitely would have hated the fact that he had.
If his father had something to do with marrying his son to the
Dornish would hate it. I mean Aegon probably fought in
the Young Dragons war and he may have hated the Dornish for their
violation of the peace banner and slaying of the outstanding
young dragon. And though he showed very little
regard for his brother Eamon in public, he may have also held a
grudge against Dorn or at least House while for leaving him in
that cage over a pit of Vipers. I mean, he wouldn't be the first
brother to show contempt and protectiveness at the same time.
Yeah, he's my brother, only I get to beat him up.
Yeah. That kind of.
Thing plus as Crown Prince Aegon may have had more restrictions
placed on him. It just would make sense.
Of course they're going to put more restrictions on him.
He's the heir to the throne, he would have had more expectations
from his father, and a man so easily controlled by his lust
would have a lot of motivation to get rid of anything that that
inhibited his ability to save them.
Anything between him and his lust.
Just. Get it out of the way.
Yeah, and his father would would probably, if not almost
definitely the main obstacle there.
So motivation for him murdering his father is there is that
we've we've shown a lie that he had motivation for murdering
Baylor and he certainly has motivation for murdering Viserys
as well. And he certainly had the
ambition for it. So but there were even other
things again for him to be upset about.
Again, there's the the the issue with the Black Pearl, his
relationship with the Black Pearl, which ended right around
this time around 17171 So holding to our pattern of when
he loses A mistress, he tends his turns his attention back to
his his wife, his sister wife. Well, keeps going here.
Nares became pregnant at some point around this time.
He had again, he had been sent away to keep him away from her.
And he may have been thinking at this point, oh, I got her
pregnant again. Are they going to send me away
again after she gives birth? Better do something about that.
But most of all, there is just his lust for the crown, which is
mentioned straightforwardly in the role of ice and fire.
And the motive absolutely exists. 100% yeah.
But on the other hand, since the series, the second had all the
makings of a strong and capable king, and Aegon had all the
makings of a man easy to manipulate, or at least a less
restrictive and authoritative king.
A third party could easily have motivation as well.
Motive to get the strong king out of the way so as to
manipulate the corruptible 1. History is full of real world.
History is full of such examples.
Song of Ice and Fire History also has some examples like that
it it's a common thing for some people.
Most people prefer to have the strong king ruling because
that's great for everybody. But those there's always those
few really dangerous, ambitious people working behind the scenes
who would rather blow up the world to benefit themselves.
They don't care about the consequences and.
Possibly a little like Arvaris. Yes, very.
That's a very good comparison. So one can easily see why
Viserys would be a target with Aegon waiting in the wings if
not from Aegon himself. There are a lot of other people
that would say, man, if we had that crappy, you know,
overeating, corrupt king, all you need to give, all you need
to get what you want out of that guy is to give him a Pretty
Woman. A lot of people would want to
take advantage of that instead of this capable, effective,
authoritative ruler who is not going, who's a no nonsense kind
of guy. Could easily see why that guy
would want to be taken out so that people could, you know,
work their, you know, sink their claws into this puppet king of
sorts. But on the other hand, Visarius
was said to die of illness. And it could have just been that
really could have happened. He was just over 50, so it's not
like he was a young man perhaps. That that's what most of the
characters in A Song of Ice and Fire think happened to John
Aaron. We readers know better, but most
of the story don't even question.
It yeah, like, like a few characters that know that he was
poisoned. Almost everyone thinks, oh, he
just died of a sudden illness. The vicarious died of a sudden
illness too, of a stomach cramp, same thing.
So it's very possible. Now with vicarious death, we
move on to part 5, The father of turmoil, the reign of Egon the
4th himself. Quote for his, for the for the
small folk. His reign might have been a
source of gossip and amusement to the Lords of the realm who
did not stay at court and who did not wish to have Egon make
free with their daughters. He might have seemed strong and
decisive, frivolous but largely harmless, but to those who dared
enter his circle he was too mere curial, too greedy and too cruel
to be anything but dangerous. And this perception would linger
beyond his reign. If Westeros knew the awful truth
of King Aegon the 4th, they might be a little less likely to
decide with the Black Dragon. One of the main arguments goes
something like this quote. Damon was the better man.
The old king saw it too. He gave the sword to Damon
Blackfire, the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, the blade that
every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest.
And so the obvious counter argument to that is it's really
hard to call black fires bestowal significant when
Aegon's decision making was so questionable.
It's like saying, Oh yeah, well the worst Targaryen king of all
agrees with me. So there, it's not a very good
argument, is it? In any case, Aegon ascended the
Iron Throne in 172, becoming King Aegon the 4th and donning
the crown he had coveted for some time. 4 kings died during
his life, and it's responsible that he, or it's possible
rather, that he was responsible for two of those deaths, perhaps
two, one or zero. Anywhere between there he wasted
no time in earning his nickname, The Unworthy.
I mean, he really put in a lot of that effort before he became
king. In the same year of his
ascension, he continued his role as the true father of the Black
Fire Rebellion by adding two more players to the sporting
cast. First he added the true born
Daenerys, the same Daenerys who would marry the Prince of Doran
and one day allow children of all social classes to play
together in her water gardens. Now this is the same Daenerys
who would supposedly win Damon Blackfyre's heart and be named
amongst the reasons for his rebellion.
Also born very near the same time was Agor Rivers AK, a
bitter steel who would be the Iron Thrones greatest enemy for
most of his life. No big deal.
And it's also interesting about these two is that they're really
near opposites in their symbolism. 1 Denarius is so
crucial in forming a bond of peace after war across many
generations still to this day, and the other crucial in
creating war across many generations to this day.
Yep, it's pretty cool. I didn't.
It's one of those little details that I don't think is very well
known. But when you really get into the
material and really dig at it and like it's like we've said
many times, you're always rewarded for digging deep into A
Song of Ice and Fire. There's so many good things to
unearth, and many more of those things will be coming in the
future episodes of this series on the Black Fire Rebellions.
We're very excited for that. Anyway, the mother of Agor
Rivers was another maiden Vault girl named Barbara Bracken.
All the girls in the Maiden Vault were set free when Baylor
died. Keep that in mind.
Agon named her father Lord Bracken as his hand to the king.
This would not be the only time Aegon named a Hand as a result
of his mistress. It's a pattern you'll see
developing. Hand, mistress, Hand, mistress,
Hand mistress is very, it's like the same fan.
It's like throughout his reign. And we're going to also see that
people figured out that pattern themselves.
This Hand, like most hands in general and many of Aegon's
mistresses, proved to be very ambitious.
Yeah, meanwhile, during this time when he's, you know, with
Barbara, Daenerys's birth nearly killed Queen Nerys, as most of
you know, all of her pregnancies, really.
Yeah, another pattern, yeah. Another pattern.
And so, while she lay dying, the ambitious Hand Lord Bracken
began to openly suggest that Barbara become her replacement,
the new Queen of Westeros. Uppity.
Yeah, that's a. Bracken, Queen A Bracken.
Queen Well, there would be Blackwood Queens, so.
I'm a black, I'm on the Blackwood.
Side OK, so that's OK then, right.
This seemed to make the Brackens very unpopular.
Oh, shocking, right. Talking while the queen is still
alive, talking about making your daughter the new queen.
Really. That made you unpopular?
Shocking. So it actually had So it
actually had the opposite effect intended.
Yeah. Because Nerys recovered and the
Brackens grasping at the throne came back to haunt.
Them quote the King was never fond of Queen Nerys, but their
brother the Dragon Knight and Prince Darren himself were
outraged and forced Aegon's hand in the matter after the Queen
recovered. So Barba and Agora were sent
back to Stonehedge, away from Cora.
And adding insult to injury, Barba's replacement as Aegon's
mistress was Melissa, AKA Missy Blackwood.
And we all know how Brackens feel about Blackwood.
Yeah, a lot more on that situation when we get to the
bitter steel focused episode. I'm very excited about that one.
The next The King's Next Mistress, however, was said to
be his favorite and as much as Barbara Bracken was was rejected
by the people of court, Melissa Blackwood was befriended this
even though he was she was a mistress.
The three who pushed away Barba, Prince Daron, Prince Eamon, and
Queen Neres. We're all said to actually love
Missy despite, you know. I can't help but wonder if,
like, at first it started as out of like, a little bit of spite
for Barba, and then we're like, we really do like her, you know,
like, that's why they were more amenable to her.
In the 1st place, it could be they may have just gotten used
to the effects like, well, he's going to have a mistress.
This is the best you know, this is this is the best it could we
can we can hope for. So Missy had a daughter named
Mia and then another named Gwenis. 2 bastards named Mia we
know of. Yeah.
Since Agor was sent. Yeah, I guess she, I guess she
was Waters since Agor was sent away.
Young Agon's children was Meg sent to be Septas and his
children with the Black Pearl. Apparently not even in Westeros.
These daughters would be the first of Agon's bastards to be
raised at court. No, she'd be mere rivers.
Of course. Brendan Rivers.
So yeah, I guess, yeah, she would be Mia Rivers.
It's interesting, I guess. Yeah, it depends on.
Yeah, Interesting. I guess it's just because she's
Blair. Her home is Blackwood and you
know. Maybe it depends on where they
spent the spent a great deal of time.
Yeah, I guess. I don't know.
Arguably she could be a Waters, but she was a.
River. But Brendan River sounds good.
Yeah, it does. Brendan Waters anyways.
But technically Damon Blackfire was also raised at court, but
his paternity was still concealed.
And so you know, these bastards at court does beg the question
of what Eamon and Aries would have thought about them at
court. But since Missy was so well
loved, this may not have been a problem.
Yeah, it was. It was the first time.
Even though Aegon had all these bastards, these would have been
the first ones that would have raised at court.
So it's kind of kind of breaking new ground.
But like she said, Melissa being so popular and well liked, it
seems likely enough that her children would be given the same
regard despite their who they are.
Like it's hard in a vacuum, you would think, Oh, these are royal
bastards. Of course they're hated.
Like you, you think of Jon Snow and Catlin, things like that.
Even nice people like Catlin have, you know, they, they have
their, their personal feelings that they can't help but so
Missy must have been a really, really, you know, one of those
people that just unite, you know, a real uniter, like a
real, real great person, I guess.
Just a real charismatic. Yeah.
So great that we can we can see these, these the personalities
of these characters really coming out based on these
details. It was around this this time as
well that Agon entertained the idea of invading Dorn.
Yeah, it was. It may have been personal.
It's directly stated in the World of Ice and Fire that he
hated Dorn. We've gone over that plenty of
times in this episode. There are some less obvious
signs for this though. He was a reasonably smart guy
despite how awful he was. His wit is a good example of how
we know he at least had some brain power.
You don't see a lot of witty people who are dumb.
That's just not. Those things don't go together.
So he and of course people talk about how much potential he had,
so clearly he had some. However, this attempt to invade
Dorn was just blatantly destined to fail, which is why it kind of
seems personal. It seems like no intelligent
person could have possibly thought this would work, so
maybe he was just worked up about it.
I mean, a reasonably smart person.
Heck, Hodor knows that you can't do what he tried to do, which
was haul siege engines filled with wildfire through a deserty
mountain pass into Doran. That's exactly what he tried to
do. Extreme heat.
Yeah, and the extreme heat like crazy.
Like that's. Yeah, but you know, with the way
the Dornish murdered his cousin, poisoned and tortured his
brother, and poisoned another cousin, well, he had a few
reasons. Yeah, he had some reasons to be
emotionally perturbed with the Dornish, but it was also really
awkward. I mean his.
Son and heir was married to a Dornish Princess and here he is
invading their homeland and his grandson who had been, you know,
born by then we said and he may have had another by then.
He ended up with a bunch of grandsons.
Darren had four sons. The dates are a little unclear
on when all they were born but it throughout the one 70s
basically. So he had at least one, probably
2 by then and maybe even 3 Grant Dornish grandsons and Adornish
stepdaughter. So.
But he's sad. We're going to invade them
anyway. Oh yeah, so of course Deron
argued against his father's plans to invade his own kids
homeland. Like of course surely he
suggested peace and marriage like Baylor had, and like he
himself based his policy towards Doranon when he himself sat the
end throne. Aegon's response to his son's
objections or to intrigue against his own son's
legitimacy? He enlisted SER Morgill
Hastwick, which is quite an evil name.
Yeah, right. Who openly charged Queen Maries
with infidelity at court this way.
Aegon himself was not involved with in making the accusations,
but he simultaneously began threatening to disown Deron in
favor of one of his bastards. The Dragon Knight disputed the
claims of infidelity and he faced SER Morgill in a trial by
combat mentioned in Chapter 15 of A Game of Thrones.
Yeah, that early. Once again, these stories were
part of really part of the early narrative.
It's, it's really interesting how George clearly had all this
thought out well before he wrote The World of Ice and Flower, at
least most of the main details. So here's this quote.
She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully.
Must be Sansa, right? You know right away based on
that. Well, just the first one.
Totally an Ariel. He was so gallant, she thought,
the way he had rescued her from Sir Ellen and the Hound.
Why it was almost like the songs like the time Sirwin of the
Mirror Shield saved the Princess Derisa from the giants, or
Prince Amon the Dragon Knight championing Queen Narius honor
against evil Sir Morgul's slanders.
Amon would again try to cast doubt on Darren's fraternity,
but he wouldn't do it again while Prince Amon the Dragon
Knight lived. Yeah, obviously Sir Morgill lost
that duel and was killed. And after that, considering Amon
was considered like the best fighter of his era, who would
dare face him in another trial by combat?
Even even the king would be able to convince somebody to go
there. So regardless though, the
invasion of Doran proceeded and as we said didn't go very well.
Agon built a fleet and those crazy siege engines that spewed
wildfire thanks to the pyromancers and all of those
were destroyed without ever inflicting any harm on the
Dornish. Well, several soldier, he lost
several of his own men. Some soldiers died, some, you
know, non Dornish died, but the Dornish themselves probably just
sat home at home and laughing. So the awkwardness of the him
attacking his own family became just regular awkward humiliation
type thing for Egon. So it was a debacle of an
invasion and it cost many lives and made no progress, at least
served to end his ambitions for Dorn for good, which, as we
said, he didn't seem like his ambitions apart from the throne
seemed to be, you know, drinking, women eating.
So it didn't seem like he had much to do after that.
So he went back to having affairs and making bastards
stick to what you're good at. Yeah.
So in 175, Missy gave birth to an albino boy with red eyes and
a wine stained birthmark called Brendan Rivers.
And in time, he became known as blood rape.
You might call his future were robust.
Not unpacked. Yeah.
And in 176, there was an example of one of the most capricious
and arbitrary things that Aegon did, which apparently he did
things like this all the time. But this is one of the best
examples we have. And this is the treatment of
Lord Plum. Here's where he remembered that
a king does what he likes. So Aegon marries Lord Plum to
one of the other Maiden Vault girls, Elena Targaryen, sister
of the Young Dragon and Dana the Defiant and now Lord Ossifer
Plum died on his wedding day. Supposedly he died when he saw
Elena naked, but that may be a tale.
Regardless, Aegon seized the Plum fortune rather than
allowing it to pass to the new Lord Plum.
He likely impregnated Elena himself as well, and she claimed
the child was Osifers so that she could rule the Plum lands
through her new son. Brown.
Ben Plum himself is related to this branch.
There's a big problem with that story.
What's that? He drops tag when he sees her
naked house he impregnator. That's that's why that's where
the whole that you guys may remember the story of the Ben
Brown, Ben Plum tells the story of how his his ancestor had a
six foot long penis. Well, that's the reference 6
Remember 6 feet under, as people say when you're dead.
So in order to impregnate her, he would have to have a six foot
long penis that could come up from the earth, etcetera.
That's the joke. Jokes aren't better when you
explain them, but that one's a little obscure.
So but Aegon didn't just take it the way he also giveth
arbitrarily of course, because that's the way he that's the way
he ran things. So he would also make
extravagant gifts throughout his reign.
There are some very key examples, of course, giving
Blackfyre to Damon was the biggest example, but the prelude
to that was the next most famous gift he gave away, which was to
Lord Butterwell, who was possibly his Hand at the time.
We think Lord Butterwell was Hand after Lord Bracken.
It's not entirely clear. Regardless, at some point Lord
Butterwell was Hand and Aegon gave him a Dragon's egg.
As with all his hands, there was a woman involved. 3 This time
all the daughters of Lord Butterwell.
Yeah, a king can do what he likes, indeed.
Now there's this consistent theme that we alluded to earlier
this this theme of ambitious types out to gain power through
Agon, the Unworthy's weaknesses and lack of interest in matters
of state in general. In 177 Bethany Bracken we're
back to the Brackens at last supplanted Melissa Blackwood as
the King's mistress. So we went Bracken mistress,
Blackwood, Mick mistress and back to Bracken mistress.
But it gets even more dramatic and soap opera Y almost.
This is Barbara's younger sister.
She had been trained for this. Basically they like molded her
to be Aegon's next mistress. That's kind of and then think
about how weird that is. It's like she knew what like
Barbara had been his miss. She's like training her younger
sister. They had She probably taught her
a few tricks or. Something having an older sister
actively trying to teach you how to treat her former lover sounds
really surreal. So Aegon brought Bethany back to
court and we don't exactly know what happened to Missy.
There is a statue of her at Raven Tree Hall, so she didn't
end in disgrace. The scenario that makes a lot of
sense is Missy's death, or at least that Aegon sent her away
before finding Bethany at Stone Head.
But Bracken may have simply turned the tables on Brackwood.
On Blackwood Brackwood Blackwood.
Blacken and Brackwood. However by then the old game of
manipulating Aegon the 4th through mistresses had changed
from Barbara's day. They, they were thinking of the
things Barbara was able to manipulate her and, and how she
was willing to put up with whatever, I suppose.
But that was five years ago. And in that five years, well,
Aegon became rather gross. He was significantly overweight.
And Bethany was having a hard time, you know, suffering his
embraces and handling his disgustingness.
She couldn't necessarily keep pretending that she actually
liked it. That's the one thing they
couldn't train her on, I suppose.
But you, regardless, you don't want to do what she did.
You don't want to make up for the King's ugliness by, you
know, turning to handsomeness. And if you're going to, you
really don't want to do it this way.
She started an affair with one of the Kings guard, a dashing,
handsome man named Sir Terrence Toyne.
Yeah, this one is especially evocative to me of King Henry
the Eighth. I mean, obviously 8th and 4th is
like a huge parallel, but this case in particular is like
exactly like Catherine Howard. I mean, it's just like exactly,
although we don't know the truth.
Yeah, the Catherine Howard thing may not have actually happened.
Yeah, this one almost. This one.
This one, yeah. So in 178, not only were they
caught, but they were caught by the king himself.
He now he isn't remembered for going easy.
On which, by the way, is perhaps the one piece of evidence that
might mean that he made it all up like he's the one who caught
them. If it was somebody else, it
might be more credible. He might.
That's true. I'm not sure what reason he
would have had to to to 'cause this scandal.
He didn't want to be handsome Knights on his team guard.
I was trying to get them all out.
It's a little weird that he would start a scandal on his
own, like embarrassing himself. Like, I think, I think he, I
think. It probably it probably.
Not them, but yes. So Bethany was executed, her
father was executed, and Barba and Agorb seem to have just been
at Stonehedge and they felt none of the King's wrath.
But surely they felt the loss of these two family members, one of
them her father. Another thing for bitter should
be bitter about. Yeah, well, Sir, Terence Toyne
was tortured to death and this had a domino effect.
Because perhaps because of the torture or just the execution in
general, Sir Terence's brothers were bent on revenge.
They were not happy about this. They it was a blood debt for
them at some point later in Aegon's reign.
Probably sooner rather than later, though we don't know the
dating on this. They took their shot at
assassinating the king. We guess it happened within
about a year of Sir Terence's treason.
Kind of a ballpark guest there. We'd also guess that they
couldn't find an opportunity to attempt the assassination
without the Dragon Knight around.
You'd think that that's the one guy you want to see.
Well, when is Amon going to not be there?
Let's wait for when the Dragon Knight's not there.
Let's go for it. That's the time to do it.
But they didn't. They attacked while the Dragon
Knight was around. Amon managed to save Aegon the
Unworthy, but he died in doing so.
And. That's a statement that really
says it all about him. The Dragon Knight was a hero for
the ages, and he fell as bravely as could be expected.
Although he died as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard
saving the King, and as a brother saving a brother, this
was not a man who deserved to be saved.
Westeros would have been better with Prince Amon still alive and
King Aeon the Unworthy dead. But no, that wouldn't wouldn't
be as dramatic of a story if that's how it happened.
So as Aegon continued to get more obese and corrupt, his next
mistress fit the theme of escalating depravity better than
any other example. So recall a little Baby Jane
that we mentioned earlier in the episode.
Well, she's grown up now. You've been patient. 14 years
later, yes. Young Lady Jane Loston was
brought to court also in about 178, probably right after the
Bethany Bracken scandal. Jane was only 14, as Aziz said,
and she was said to be the daughter of Lord Lucas lost in
and Lady Felina, the King's first mistress, when she was 14.
But as we said earlier, she could have easily been Aegon's
own daughter. So gross.
So not only did he take her as mistress, he supposedly had her
and her mother at the same time. She got mother and daughter in
the same bed and he's probably father of the daughter with that
mother, like you said. We said that this would be like
the pinnacle of depravity. Well, there you go.
I don't. I try to beat that.
So as he was want to do, he made his mistress's father his hand
again, the same man who was master at arms for Viserys and
possibly the man who trained him at arms when he was young.
So he did have a connection to him besides this back and forth
mistress relationship that he had for several years for over
the course of so long. But soon enough he gave Jane a
pox and sent her, Lady Felina and Lord Lawson all back to
Harrenhal, stripping him of his position as hand to the king.
And in a pattern that just had to repeat itself one last time,
John Hightower became the next Hand, bringing with him the
woman who had become the most beautiful of Aegon's mistresses.
Serenade of lease. I guess he decided not to throw
his daughter under the puff. Yeah.
Or maybe he just didn't have he's like, I don't have a hot
daughter, right? Let.
Me go find. Let me go find somebody.
Send me the most beautiful woman you have.
Yeah, so. And of course, Princess Nerys,
with the Dragon Knight now dead, didn't have didn't have her any
companions anymore. Yeah, and not only did Aegon do
little to honor his sister and brother who died for him, he
began to revive the old rumors that Deron was Prince Amon's
son, that Amon and Nerys closeness was not the normal
brotherly sisterly affection, but the Targaryen kind.
Efforts to discredit Deron's parentage were serious.
Still, who would King Aegon name is heir?
He had no other sons and his daughter Daenerys was only 8
years old. Well, by 180 it must have been
apparent that young 10 year old Squire Damon was special.
We guess he became a Squire around his time, which is a
little young, but he was still unacknowledged.
He was still Damon Waters at this point.
Now, as the King's hard living started to catch up to him, his
weight became such a problem that he was barely able to walk.
We'll guess that Chierra Sea Star was born sometime around
181, possibly as early as 179, maybe as late as 183 or 4, but
181 seems to fit the best. She'd be the final of the Four
Great Bastards. So sadly, though, Serenai did
not survive the birth of Shierra on 182 Egg on, despite having
gained enough weight that he had his own gravitational pull by
then. Yeah, yeah, he managed to attend
a Squires tournament somehow, and it probably seemed like it
would be a pretty normal day. Just the Squires tournament, you
know? Let's just go out and watch the
Squires jousting, you know? Did Aegon have it planned?
Did he despise Deron enough that he was willing to start making
real steps towards disowning him?
You just don't know. Damon, 12 at this time, won the
tourney and got a far larger prize than anyone could have
ever, ever expected. How about first of all being
knighted, the youngest ever in the time of the target?
Sounds good. Let's throw in the news that
you're the King's son. His eldest male bastard, in
fact. Oh, not done.
No, not done. We'll we'll not only name you
the King's bastard and give you a knighthood, but we'll also
give you Black fire, the ancient Targaryen sword of kings made of
Valyrian steel, wielded by hang on, the Conqueror himself and
his father before him, forged in the fires of the Freehold.
Now, there was probably a time when Blackfire was a little less
important as a symbol, but without the Dragons around, it
was a major symbol. It became a major symbol, and it
was going to become more important as the people who
supported Damon Blackfire, you know, kind of pushed, kind of
raised its status as a symbol, propaganda, propaganda.
So this was a truly. So this was a truly shocking
gift. And the realm was like, wow.
Yeah. What was Aegon thinking?
Was it a careless gesture like the Dragon's egg?
A gifting? Or was he intentionally setting
up major conflict? It's very hard to say, but he
did arrange for Damon to be married, and to a powerful
family at that. They're not a Westerassi one.
Damon was betrothed to Rohan, daughter of the Archon of Tyros.
The actual marriage came after Aegon's death, however.
Now Aegon son's final two years were like a bit of a lame duck
or lame dragon or fat sick and nearly dead dragon period.
He slowly became this. His body so swollen and obese
that he could no longer lift himself from his couch.
His limbs rotting and crawling with flesh worms the maester is
claimed they had never seen. It's like while septons declared
it a judgement of the gods. Aegon was given milk of the
poppy to dull his pain, but elsewise little could be done
for him. Yeah, it sounds like that would
be part of why he got so little done.
Not just because he was so sick, but all he was constantly
medicated with milk of the poppy.
I'm not going to. Mostly just sleeping.
But awful king as he was, even though he wasn't capable of much
in the state, he still managed to do.
Yeah, his last act before his death, all accounts agree, was
to set out his will, and in it he left the bitterest poison the
realm ever knew. He legitimized all of his
natural children, from the most base born to the great bastards,
the sons and daughters born to him by women of noble birth.
Scores of his natural children had never been acknowledged.
Scores. Yes, Aegon's dying declaration
meant not to them. For his acknowledged bastards,
however, it meant a great deal, and for the realm, it meant
blood and fire for five generations.
It's. Like the biggest jerk move of
all time. Basically, he, he just had to
stick it to Westeros, set up the the wars that he avoided during
his own lifetime. What what, What could the Grand
Maester have thought to himself when he heard this decree?
All of them? Your Grace, your son could be
greatly endangered by this. Perhaps we should just send each
of your bastards a ham. Just don't offer bitter steal
any horse meat. So.
But why didn't he actually ever disown Deron in favor of Damon?
Well, he didn't want to fight a war against his own son.
The guy wasn't good at fighting wars.
We saw that even he may have realized that, but he also would
have known because he's not an idiot, that his son would have
been well supported. All the most of Dorn would have
supported Deron and a lot of the other houses would have simply
supported Deron because Agon the Fourth was so terrible and so he
just talked a lot. He didn't actually take these
actions. Possibly he was planning on more
war eventually but just died too soon.
The marriage alliance with Tyros doesn't have implications.
Quote. Agon saw more profit in a tie to
Tyros, perhaps because it's fleet would be of use if he made
another attempt to conquer Doran.
But or he might have been planning on setting aside Deron,
but knew he needed more support and for Damon to be grown up.
If he had lived another five years, he could have declared
Damon his heir, and that likely would have been enough to give
Damon the edge. I mean, he almost won the throne
as it was, so we've got to think that a few more houses on
Damon's side would have been enough.
Yeah, it's a close call. I can imagine in several years
Aegon could have been thinking, oh this, This promising young
knight will be grown up and the other realm will fall in love
with him. I can name him as my heir,
everyone will prefer that. But he had to wait, and in the
meantime, he died. But if that was the case, why
didn't Aegon's will also contain a provision disowning there on
the second? It did no such thing.
Yeah, there's a lot of questions about this.
And as important as it was Aegon's reign, great change did
not occur during it. Great change did occur because
of his reign, especially right there at the end, but at the
actual time of his death, his now legitimized bastards were
still young, so the damage wouldn't be felt for a while.
Still, the ones who shook the realm had more growing up to do
before they could do all that damage.
When Daron became King Daron the Second, he was 30 years old and
he had a 14 year old heir in Baylor and a 12 year old sister
in Daenerys. He also had three sons, Aries,
Regal and Makar, giving him a very stable line.
Now he's the subject of our next episode.
Daron would do his best to undo the work of his unworthy father
and complete the work of his uncle Balaam.
That's a lot of work. Surely there are tales to be
told of Gwenis and Mia, Brendan Rivers's elder sisters, or of
Valerian, the child of the black pearls that might have been
Aegons. He had sisters named Narha and
Dalnora, who took up the name of her mother to become the next
Black Pearl. So the line of black Pearls
continues even now as and Agon's blood is still present in them,
that the tales are true. But we don't know those tales or
if those characters impacted the Black Fire rebellions.
What we do know is that Damon Blackfyre, like Baylor, was also
around 14 years of age, a few months younger than you know,
than Baylor himself. Bitter Steel, who probably
didn't have that nickname yet, was around 12.
Little 12 year old Bitter Steel. Little baby bitter Steel
becoming a little teenager bloodraven.
Ditto to that nickname. Probably didn't have it.
It was nine years old, and Shera likewise was not yet the star of
the sea, and she was only about three to five years old.
They were no longer growing up as bastards.
Not legally, anyway. We will continue this story with
the next episode. As these bastards age up to no
longer bastards, born bastards, legitimized bastards.
As they age up to a point at which they become dangerous.
What will the new king dare on the second do about all these
legitimized trade bastards? TuneIn next time to find out.
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So until next time, everybody. Valar Morghulis.