Battle at Rook's Rest
| Battle at Rook's Rest | |||||||||||||||||
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 Aegon II Targaryen and Sunfyre are badly injured by Rhaenys Targaryen and Meleys, as depicted by Jordi Gonzales Escamilla in The World of Ice & Fire. | |||||||||||||||||
| Conflict | Dance of the Dragons | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | late 129 AC | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Rook's Rest | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Victory for the greens | ||||||||||||||||
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A battle at Rook's Rest took place in the crownlands during the Dance of the Dragons.
Contents
Prelude
Ser Criston Cole, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and the new Hand of the King to Aegon II Targaryen, devised a more aggressive strategy than his predecessor as Hand, Ser Otto Hightower. After the sack of Duskendale, Criston's greens planned a trap for the blacks at Rook's Rest.[1]
In addition to dragons, Aegon II and Criston Cole marched out of King's Landing with 100 knights, 500 men-at-arms, and three times as many sellswords: thus about 2,400 in total. After forcing the submission of Rosby and Stokeworth they forced them to add their strength to Aegon II's host, thus it would have been slightly under 3,000 men in strength by the time they reached Duskendale.[1]
Lord Staunton closed the gates of Rook's Rest, but he was unable to prevent Criston from burning his fields or killing his smallfolk and livestock. He asked for assistance from Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen by sending a raven to Dragonstone.[1]
Battle
Nine days later, Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen Who Never Was, and her dragon, Meleys, the Red Queen, arrived above Rook's Rest to aid Lord Staunton. However, Criston was prepared and had his archers and scorpions fire at Meleys. The dragon was largely unharmed by these attacks, and she responded by burning Criston's soldiers with dragonfire.[1]
Meleys was then attacked by King Aegon II Targaryen atop Sunfyre and Prince Aemond Targaryen atop Vhagar. The aerial combat between the two dragons of the greens and the one dragon of the blacks saw the deaths of Rhaenys and Meleys. Aegon suffered severe burns, however, and Sunfyre was rendered flightless from the fight with Meleys.[1]
Aemond, Criston, and the surviving greens took Rook's Rest and killed Lord Staunton and his garrison of one hundred soldiers.[1]
Aftermath
The loss of Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon, Meleys, was a severe blow to the blacks. Rhaenys's husband, the Sea Snake Corlys Velaryon, was enraged and blamed her death on Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, stating that if the queen or her sons had gone with their dragons, his wife might be alive. The heads of Lord Staunton and Meleys were taken to King's Landing.
Ser Criston Cole lost eight hundred soldiers to Meleys's dragonfire. King Aegon II Targaryen was incapacitated by his burns for a year; Prince Aemond Targaryen became regent while his brother recovered. Aegon's injured dragon, Sunfyre, was left behind and ate carcasses and livestock.[1]
Lord Walys Mooton later led the retaking of Rook's Rest for the blacks, then was slain in a failed attempt to kill Sunfyre.[1]
References
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