Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Aemon)
Rhaenys Targaryen | |
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Art by by Bella Bergolts © | |
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Alias | The Queen Who Never Was |
Title | Princess |
Allegiances | |
Race | Valyrian |
Culture | crownlands |
Born | In 74 AC[1] |
Died | In 129 AC, Rook's Rest[2] |
Spouse | Corlys Velaryon |
Books |
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Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, known among the smallfolk as the Queen Who Never Was, was the faithful wife of Lord Corlys Velaryon of Driftmark. She was a dragonrider whose dragon was Meleys, the Red Queen.[2]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Rhaenys had traditional Targaryen beauty.[3] She was fifty-five years old during the Dance of the Dragons and was still as fierce and fearless as she had been at twenty-two. By then she had a lean lined face and black hair streaked with white.[4]
Rhaenys wore steel and copper armor which flashed in the sun.[2]
History
Youth
Princess Rhaenys was the daughter of Jocelyn Baratheon, the daughter of Lord Robar Baratheon of Storm's End, and Prince Aemon Targaryen, the heir of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Rhaenys was the staunchest of friends with her uncle, Jocelyn's brother Boremund.[2][5] Rhaenys married Corlys Velaryon and had two children with him, Laena and Laenor Velaryon.[3][2]
Aemon died in 92 AC. Old King Jaehaerys chose Aemon's younger brother, Prince Baelon, rather than Rhaenys, Aemon's only child, as his new heir.[6]
Great Council of 101
Because Baelon died in 101 AC, a Great Council was called at Harrenhal to decide upon Jaehaerys's new heir. Rhaenys's uncle Boremund, now Lord of Storm's End, and Ellard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, spoke for her, as did Ellard's bannermen, House Dustin of Barrowton and House Manderly of White Harbor.[2][5]
When the claims of Rhaenys, her daughter Laena, and seven others were eventually dismissed, Boremund and Ellard supported Rhaenys's son, Laenor, over Baelon's son, Prince Viserys Targaryen.[6] While the tally was kept secret, it was rumored the assembled lords favored Viserys by twenty to one.[6]
Laena and Laenor both died in 120 AC, the Year of the Red Spring. Laena's widower, Prince Daemon Targaryen, scandalously married Laenor's widow, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, less than six months after Laenor's passing.[3]
The Dance of the Dragons
When the Dance of the Dragons began in 129 AC, Princess Rhaenys sat on the black council of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, daughter of the late King Viserys I Targaryen. When the Velaryon fleet closed off the Gullet, sailing forth from Dragonstone and Driftmark to block all shipping for Blackwater Bay, the blacks' plan was for Rhaenys to fly overhead on Meleys to keep the greens from attacking their ships with dragons.[2]
Nine days after Lord Staunton dispatched a plea for help, Rhaenys and Meleys appeared above Rook's Rest. Rhaenys attacked the soldiers of Ser Criston Cole during the battle at Rook's Rest, but King Aegon II Targaryen upon Sunfyre and Prince Aemond Targaryen upon Vhagar appeared in the skies. Criston had sprung a trap and Rhaenys had snatched the bait. Against Vhagar alone, Meleys may have won but she stood little chance against both dragons. They met a thousand feet above the ground and all three beasts went spinning to the earth. From the ashes, only Vhagar rose unharmed. A body believed to be Rhaenys was later found beside the carcass of her dragon, but so blackened no one could be sure it was her. Her husband, Corlys Velaryon, was enraged that Rhaenyra had sent Rhaenys instead of going herself, and that Rhaenyra had forbidden her sons Jacaerys and Joffrey from aiding Rhaenys.[2]
Quotes
Beloved daughter of Lady Jocelyn Baratheon and Prince Aemon Targaryen, faithful wife of Lord Corlys Velaryon, mother and grandmother, the Queen Who Never Was lived fearlessly, and died amidst blood and fire. She was fifty-five years old.[2]
- Archmaester Gyldayn
Family
Notes: |
References
- ↑ See the Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Aemon) calculation.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 The Princess and the Queen.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Rogue Prince.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: House Baratheon.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I.