Characters / A Song of Ice and Fire - Court Of Aegon III

This is a listing of characters in the court of King Aegon III Targaryen in A Song of Ice and Fire.

For the main House Targaryen entry and overall tropes, see here

Court of Aegon III

Royal Family

Aegon III

King Aegon Targaryen, the Third of His Name; r. 131-157

The Younger, The Dragonbane, The Unlucky, The Broken King

Orwyle was wont to call His Grace calm and self-possessed; I say the boy is dead inside. He walks the halls of the Red Keep like a ghost.

— Grand Maester Munkun

Older son of Queen Rhaenyra by her second husband and uncle, Daemon. Crowned after Aegon II's death, at the age of only eleven. His first wife was his cousin Jaehaera, and his second was Daenaera Velaryon, with whom he had five children (Daeron I, Baelor I, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena). Haunted by the horrific demise of his royal mother during the Dance, Aegon struck his contemporaries as a gloomy, melancholy, self-isolated man, who never smiled and always wore black. It was during his reign that the last Targaryen dragon died, some say at the behest of the king himself. His crown was a slender gold band.

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• Ambiguously Gay: According to Mushroom, Lady Samantha Tarly-Hightower offered "pretty boys" to Aegon if that is how he swung.
• Arranged Marriage: With Princess Jaehaera, daughter of Aegon II, though only briefly. They were married as children (Aegon was 11 and Jaehaera 8), and Jaehaera committed suicide (or was probably murdered, depending on the source) at the age of ten.
• Beard of Sorrow: Along with his dark clothing, this marked his almost constant state of mourning. It is implied he suffered from clinical depression.
• Berserk Button: Dragons, after his mother's death. Talking to him about dragons was enough to send him into a rare rage and he couldn't stand to see one in his sight either.
• Bread and Circuses: Due to his lack of real interest in winning the love of the commoners, his policy was "full bellies and dancing bears."
• Broken Bird: Pretty aptly summed up by Grand Maester Munkun in a letter to the Citadel; the crap the kid went through just left him broken by the age of ten.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: With his wife, Daenaera Velaryon. Though apparently their marriage was never close.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Became king at age 11, though what with various slimy and not-so-slimy regents, he didn't do much ruling proper until he hit 16.
• Cynicism Catalyst: The Dance of the Dragons (in particular the apparent death of his closest brother Viserys and the brutal death of his mother before his very eyes) and the way the regents treated him after the dance made Aegon a very cynical and depressed individual. While he was quite reasonable and competent as a king, he strongly distrusted most lords, only genuinely trusting a few individuals such as Viserys and Tyland Lannister, and while he knew his duties and how it was in the kingdom's interests to keep the smallfolk satisfied after the devastation of the Dance, he didn't feel any particular closeness with his people nor did he interact with them much.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Aegon III's preference for dark clothing was simply him mourning the loss of his mother and pretty much everything else he'd lost during the Dance of the Dragons. He spent the rest of his life in a state of depression.
• Does Not Like Spam:
  • He didn't like turnips. When he asked what would happen if he didn't like his first prospective bride, Myrielle Peake, her father Unwin Peake said, "Your Grace does not like turnips, but when your cooks prepare them, you eat them, do you not?" This led to Myrielle being called "Lady Turnips" throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
  • He also wasn't particularly fond of anything sweet, which might've saved his life from an assassination attempt that nearly got Daenaera, and actually did get poor Gaemon Palehair.
• The Dog Bites Back: While his dismissal of his regents is spectacularly rude, and alienates Torrhen Manderly completely, it isn't hard to see why after the last five years he's reached the opinions he has, particularly his dislike of the realm's nobles, who he states would slit his throat just for a bit of coin.
• Dragon Rider: His first flight on Stormcloud was also his last flight ever. The dragon saved his life but died of his wounds shortly after reaching Dragonstone. The experience was deeply traumatic for the young Aegon, who had been forced to cling for dear life until safely back on the ground. And after witnessing his mother being burned and devoured by Sunfyre, him riding on a dragon again was out of the question.
• Emotionless Boy: The war for the crown left him a broken individual.
• Forced to Watch: Aegon seeing his mother be eaten by a dragon traumatized and haunted him for the rest of his life.
• Forgets to Eat: As part of his general anhedonia, he sometimes had to be reminded to take meals.
• Get Out!: Expelled his regents from King's Landing the minute he was old enough to rule as King in his own right.
• The Good King: Despite his depression, he tried to make life better for the smallfolk.
• Grew a Spine: He generally tended to take the crap his regents (I.E. Unwin Peake) handed out with a quiet resignation. During the standoff at the Red Keep, however, he starts showing a sudden increase in back-talk, telling his fighting instructor that he couldn't get Aegon to cooperate by threatening the now dead Gaemon anymore, to say nothing of what happened when he finally hit sixteen. After several years of being told to shut up and sit down while the adults talked, he refused to let them do it any further.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Felt unworthy of the Iron Throne, believing that he couldn't save the realm after failing to save his brother Viserys (though Viserys was later revealed to have survived), his mother and his wife Jaehaera from their cruel deaths. His reunion with Viserys helped him regain some confidence.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: The only person who was close to him was his brother Viserys II. Aegon III believed he had died during the Dance of the Dragons—one of the few happy moments he had after the Dance was finding out that Viserys had survived.
• Hidden Depths: Aegon III was often silent, somber and reclusive as a child, rarely revealing his thoughts or opinions. He usually humbly deferred to his regents. However, it is implied that throughout his regency, he took careful note of which nobles were truly working in his best interests and those who were self-serving. He also showed surprising amount of courage, compassion and wisdom when the Winter Fever seized the capital. He fearlessly spent hours with the dying in their final moments, holding their hands so that they would not die alone (and those who recovered would attribute it to his "healing hands"). When the court was in shambles due to the disease, he immediately released the former Grand Maester Orwyle out of prison to help with the crisis, and attempted to fill the Kingsguard vacancies with men he knew to be loyal to himself.
• The Insomniac: Aegon III was noted to spend long hours of the night sleepless and passed his time gazing at the stars.
• Interclass Friendship: With Gaemon Palehair. Aegon III was a prince and a king, while Gaemon was the son of a common prostitute who had claimed him to be a Royal Bastard because of his silver hair, yet they were good friends.
• It's All My Fault: Rather unfairly blames himself for Viserys' apparent death during the Battle of the Gullet, even though he was a kid at the time. His mother and first wife's deaths also weighted heavily on him and contributed to make him feel unworthy of being king.
• It's Personal: Aegon III made a note of the people who betrayed his mother and was incensed when many of them were part of the Regency government. Ser Marston Waters, the guy who stood there and let his mother be devoured was someone he never forgave, and during the siege on Maegor's Holdfast during the Rogare crisis, Aegon III called him out for that when he pledged his sword.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: On both ends:
  • Aegon III was quite different from his father Daemon Targaryen, the "Rogue Prince". Daemon was unstable, violent, extroverted and a womanizer, while Aegon III was shy, withdrawn, cold, and generally quite private.
  • Aegon's children were on the whole more charismatic, boisterous, and larger-than-life than him. Kings Daeron I and Baelor possessed the Targaryen passion but none of their father's Boring, but Practical approach to ruling, while Princess Daena, who admired her father greatly, ended up being the most rebellious, daring, and disruptive of Targaryen princesses. Aegon walked with deep grief for the rest of his life, and the foolishness of his sons almost tore the realm apart.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: His children with Daenaera: Daeron, Baelor, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena.
  • He himself was the younger half-brother of Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey Velaryon (on his mother's side), Baela and Rhaena Targaryen (on his father's side), and the older brother of Viserys and Visenya.
• Modest Royalty: Tended to prefer dark and somber clothing. His crown was a simple gold circlet with no ornamentation.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed:
  • Of Henry II of England, to a certain extent; he became his uncle's heir for lack of any other suitable candidate, thus ultimately vindicating his mother's claim. However, the rest of his life was rather more peaceful than Henry's.
  • He also has some similarity to Edward VI of England, who also inherited his throne at a very young age (Edward was nine while Aegon was ten) and had a regency council to govern his country until he reached his majority. Unlike Aegon, Edward died before he reached that majority, but it's likely that had he actually fully taken over as king he would have been a capable, if rather sober and religiously extreme, ruler.
  • He bears a lot of similarities to the first Romanov Tsar, Michael I. Appointed as a child after a long succession crisis, he left most of the ruling to regents, had an interest in unusual shows (dwarfs instead of dancing bears), reunited with a lost relative a few years after coming to the throne, (His father instead of his brother), conducted a bride-show to find a bride, had one of his potential brides poisoned by a jealous nobleman, suffered from bouts of depression, and went down in history as an utterly unremarkable middle of the road ruler with neither any particularly noteworthy highs or lows.
• Non-Action Guy: He wasn't terribly interested in learning how to fight. As shown after Gareth Long got the boot, if he'd had anyone else but Long (i.e., a teacher actually interested in teaching), he wouldn't have been half bad.
• No-Respect Guy: For all his efforts to give the smallfolk peace and quiet, which seem to have succeeded for his part, by the time Gyldayn's writing about him, he's barely remembered, and if anyone does remember anything about him, it's blaming him for the dragons going extinct.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: During the standoff where Aegon and Viserys barricaded themselves in Maegor's Holdfast to protect Viserys's Lyseni wife from arrest, the Red Keep's master at arms, Ser Gareth Long, was one of those who tried to get Aegon to surrender. Aegon, who had long hated the cruel and abusive Gareth, pointed out that unlike before, he couldn't coerce the boy king into behaving by threatening his (by that point long dead) friend and whipping boy, Gaemon Palehair.
  Aegon III: And if I will not, who will you threaten, ser? You may beat poor Gaemon's bones, but you will get no more blood from him.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Whenever he actually tried speaking up during his regency, Unwin Peake just shut him down by saying he was a boy, and had no place asking. Successive regents tried the same thing. Not surprising that the minute he turned sixteen, the first thing Aegon did was to tell his regents they could get lost. And by first thing, we mean morning of his birthday. He walked in on what turned out to be the last Regents' Council, told them that he was in charge, he immediately dissolved the council and canceled their plans (when the norm would have been to at least retain some of their programs to maintain continuity and good will) and told them to start packing their bags, their entourage, and then amscray.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Gaemon Palehair, who was a Replacement Goldfish for him when his brother went missing. When his brother returns, Aegon III spends less time with Gaemon, though he still likes him and is friendly to him.
  • With Tyland Lannister, despite Tyland's previous affiliation with the Greens, him having advocated Aegon's death and him having every reason to hate Rhaenyra's family for the torture and disfigurement he suffered at the Blacks' hands. Tyland became truly loyal to Aegon and did his best to mentor him to become a king, treating him with gentleness and respect unlike the other regents, and in return Aegon came to trust and view Tyland as a friend, staying by his side when Tyland fell ill and holding his hand when Tyland died.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Despite his best efforts to prevent it, his image has been forever tainted by the fact that under his rule, the dragons of House Targaryen died out for good.
• One-Steve Limit: Although Rhaenyra named him after Aegon the Conqueror, it still caused a minor controversy since his uncle Aegon II was very much still around when he was born, and the latter's mother, Alicent Hightower, was downright insulted since she felt that Rhaenyra deliberately chose the name to spite Aegon's birthright.
• Parental Substitute: Seems to have viewed Tyland Lannister as this. Aegon was orphaned at a young age, and upon taking the throne, saw how tirelessly and loyally Tyland served him (despite the fact that Tyland had previous served under Aegon III's mother's rival and killer). Aegon III would provide comfort to Tyland as the latter died of the Winter Fever, and Aegon III would later resent Tyland's successors for lacking Tyland's loyalty, deference and gentleness.
• Perpetual Frowner: Never smiled and always wore black to mourn his mother, whom he saw being devoured alive by his uncle's dragon.
• Pretty Boy: Got the typical Targaryen looks by the time he was sixteen.
• The Quiet One: He barely spoke during his time in King's Landing after his mother claimed it, and was described as her "small pale shadow". He didn't speak much as king, either.
• Rage Quit: Early in his sword training, due to having a Drill Sergeant Nasty. The fact he was king spared him from the man's usual response of brutal retaliation... but it didn't save Gaemon.
• The Scapegoat: He was blamed for the death of the dragons, even though he tried to get some hatched, despite his hatred and fear of the creatures.
• Sketchy Successor: Generally regarded as one by most of Westeros, what with the whole "losing the dragons" business. However, all indications are he wasn't by any means a bad king. Certainly, there's no great disasters or wars to his name. Maybe average and not terribly interested in doing much, but there are certainly worse- and considering his Trauma Conga Line of a childhood, he was overall surprisingly functional.
• Spear Counterpart: Loses a brother in war, sees his parent murdered before his eyes on the orders of a cruel, petulant ruler when young, is taken hostage by said ruler afterwards and ultimately enters into an arranged marriage with a member of that family. He is the male Sansa.
• Stargazing Scene: As per Fire & Blood, he was noted during his regency to spend long hours of the night gazing at stars, despite his general lack of enjoyment in pretty much anything.
• Survivor's Guilt: He blames himself for failing to save his little brother Viserys and spent several years believing that he had died. Being reunited with his long-lost brother was basically a Throw the Dog a Bone moment for him.
• Trauma Button: About the only thing that got an emotional reaction out of him was dragons, and that reaction usually tended to be a freak out.
• Trauma Conga Line: His entire childhood was a long example of this: his baby sister is stillborn, his older brother gets murdered by their uncle, his oldest brother dies to save him, he escapes capture while flying his dragon Stormcloud who was mortally wounded in the process and being forced to abandon his little brother to an uncertain fate, watching his half-brother Joffrey Velaryon fall to his death after being rejected as a rider by the dragon Syrax, fleeing the capital, watching his mother burned alive and devoured by Sunfyre, held captive in a dungeon in Dragonstone, periodically threatened with mutilation and death by his uncle to try and force his mother's supporters, still fighting to put Aegon on the Iron Throne in Rhaenyra's stead, to surrender. The (apparent) suicide of his wife/cousin Jaehaera and his best friend being poisoned a few years after he became king probably didn't help either. Nor did an attempted coup almost certainly engineered by Unwin Peake.
• Unexpected Successor: He became king by outliving three older half-brothers, three uncles, two cousins and his own mother.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After seeing his mother being burned and devoured by Sunfyre, and despite having been a dragon rider before, Aegon developed a strong fear and hatred for dragons. The single mention of dragons was one of the few things capable of angering him and he refused to see one too as evidenced by his anger when his sister Rhaena brought her dragon Morning into Aegon's presence. However despite his aversion for them, he did try to preserve them and hatch new dragons as he knew that his family's power came from them, but it was in vain.

  Aegon III: [to his guards regarding the dragon Morning] Get that wretched creature out of my sight.

Queen Jaehaera Targaryen

Queen Jaehaera Targaryen

The second child and only daughter of Aegon II and Helaena, and twin sister to Jaehaerys. Six years old during the Dance of the Dragons. She married her cousin Aegon III after her father's death in 131 AC but (possibly) committed suicide only two years later.

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• Angsty Surviving Twin: Her twin brother Jaehaerys was decapitated in front of her, which didn't do her already fragile mental state any favors.
• Arranged Marriage: To Aegon III, following Aegon II's death. It was meant to reconcile Greens and Blacks.
• Broken Bird: Grand Maester Munkun described her as broken, and given what she went through, it's not hard to see why.
• Death of a Child: She was only ten when she apparently committed suicide.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Threw herself (or was thrown, depending on the source) from Maegor's Holdfast, falling on the spikes of the moat below, and still survived for half an hour in agony. She was ten years old.
• Dragon Rider: Subverted. She was bonded to the dragon Morghul, but never rode it before the dragon was killed during the Storming of the Dragonpit.
• Driven to Suicide: Maybe. Like her mother, she fell from Maegor's Holdfast into the moat below. Also like her mother, rumors persist that she was actually murdered.
• Emotionless Girl: As a little child, she rarely cried or laughed. As she got older, she became less so.
• Freak Out: An understandable reaction to your grandmother telling you, at age eight, to murder your husband, especially when you've seen your brother murdered in front of you. Jaehaera immediately started screaming her head off, and after that Aegon III's regents made sure to keep them very far apart.
• Generation Xerox: Sadly, her fate ended up being near-identical to her mother's: both were severely traumatized by the Dance of Dragons and ended up dying by throwing themselves from Maegor's Holdfast. In both cases, there were rumors that they had actually been murdered.
• Harmful to Minors: During the Dance of Dragons, she, her mother and brothers were cornered by Blood and Cheese, who forced Helaena to choose one of her sons to be killed; if she didn't choose or took too long, Blood and Cheese threatened to rape Jaehaera and kill all three children. Jaehaera then had to watch her twin brother be decapitated. She was only six years old at the time.
• Inadequate Inheritor: As Aegon II's only remaining child, she would've had a legitimate claim to the throne if something unfortunate had happened to her husband... but pretty much every one of Aegon's regents admitted that there would've been no point trying.
• Kissing Cousins: Ended up married to her cousin Aegon III. Although she died before the marriage was consummated.
• Nervous Wreck: By age eight, she was easily startled and upset, prone to crying suddenly, though given what she'd gone through in the last two years, this wasn't surprising.
• Never Suicide: As mentioned above, many were of the opinion she was actually murdered.
• Put on a Bus: In-universe, Lord Larys Strong smuggles her from the Red Keep and she's spirited away to Storm's End by Ser Willis Fell when King's Landing falls to Rhaenyra's loyalists.
• Sins of Our Fathers: At the time of her death, rumors circulated that Aegon III had had Jaehaera killed in retaliation for her father feeding his mother to Sunfyre.
• Sole Survivor: The only offspring of Aegon II to survive the Dance of the Dragons... even if not for that long.
• Theme Twin Naming: Jaehaera and her twin brother, Jaehaerys, were both named for their ancestor, the great king Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
• Troubled Child: She was always regarded as a rather simple and frail, though sweet-natured child. The Trauma Conga Line she went through didn't help the poor girl's mental state and by the time she was ten she seemingly took her own life.

Queen Daenaera Velaryon

Queen Daenaera Targaryen (nèe Velaryon)

Daughter of Daeron Velaryon and cousin to Alyn Velaryon, and the second wife of King Aegon III. They had five children together (Daeron I, Baelor I, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena).

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• All There in the Manual: Most of what we know about her comes from The World of Ice & Fire and Fire & Blood.
• Arranged Marriage: To Aegon III.
• Awful Wedded Life: It's stated that Aegon III's constant brooding put a damper on their relationship, though Aegon did have several children with her.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Aegon III was constantly decried as sullen and depressed while Daenaera was a sweet child beloved by many.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Aegon and Daenaera had five children: Daeron, Baelor, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena.
• Virgin in a White Dress: She's introduced to the Royal court wearing a white samite gown with pearls. Even Aegon forgot to sulk in order to praise her beauty.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her eventual fate is unknown.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Described as "a surpassingly beautiful child" when she was only six, it's more than likely that she grew up to become this trope given what we know of other examples of Valyrian beauty.

Lady Baela Targaryen

Lady Baela Targaryen

One of the twin daughters of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon. In The World of Ice and Fire it is stated she was married to Alyn Velaryon and had issue.

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• Arranged Marriage: Was betrothed to her cousin Jacaerys Velaryon, but he died before they could marry.
• Damsel in Distress: After her battle with Aegon, she was nearly killed by one of his underlings and only spared so she might be kept alive as a prisoner. When Sunfyre died, Aegon ordered her beheaded for her part in fatally injuring his beloved dragon, only relenting when his maester pointed out she'd be a useful hostage for the loyalty of her Velaryon relatives.
• Dead Guy Junior: Was mentioned to have been named after her late paternal grandfather, Baelon.
  • She herself named her eldest child Laena after her mother.
• Defiant Captive: Her guards kept her chained up any time she was in Aegon II's presence for fear she might attack the king.
• Dragon Rider: Rode Moondancer.
• Everyone Has Standards: Played for laughs when she claims that she slept with two of the Rowan brothers - "Not both at once, that would have been improper."
• Famed In-Story: She is remembered as a mighty royal in folklore. It's noted that she was as fearless as her father.
• I Have Your Wife: Aegon II kept her alive after their dragon battle as a hostage to force her Velaryon in-laws to submit to him, threatening to have Baela beheaded if they didn't bend the knee to him. Aegon II also threatened Corlys Velaryon that if his son Alyn failed to stop the Braavosi fleet transporting Rhaenyra's forces from the Vale to assault King's Landing, Baela would lose her head for it. Unfortunately, Aegon's threat just goaded Corlys into joining a conspiracy plotting the king's assassination.
• It Runs in the Family: Determined, hot-blooded, rebellious, fond of keeping company with the rank 'n' file... she's the most like Daemon of all of his kids.
• Kissing Cousins: Betrothed to her cousin Jacaerys Velaryon and eventually married another one of her cousins, Alyn Velaryon.
• Little Miss Badass: She was only 13 years old when she bravely fought King Aegon II in a dragon duel. This act of courage saved her from being struck dead by an enemy lord after being gravely injured in said duel.
• Nerves of Steel: Utterly fearless. Even as Moondancer fell from the sky, taking Sunfyre down with her, she didn't dismount, unlike Aegon II, who did in fact jump off before both dragons hit the ground and ended up crippled for life by the twenty foot fall.
• Not Afraid to Die: At 13, she managed to escape to her dragon as the King's forces took Dragonstone. Rather than flee to safety, Baela instead challenged King Aegon II, and his dragon Sunfyre, to a fight to the death above the castle.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!:
  • Begged Robert Quince to not mutilate a boy whom she had been fooling around with.
  • Though in this case, the word "Please" probably wasn't used; Baela was rescued from captivity during The Purge of Aegon II's faction by men loyal to Larys Strong. When Cregan Stark sentenced them to death for their involvement in Aegon's assassination, Baela spoke up in defence of her rescuers, even drawing a sword to do so. Amused by her defiance, Stark agreed to pardon them.
  • She and Rhaena also went over Cregan Stark's head and directly petitioned Aegon III to pardon Corlys Velaryon for his part in Aegon II's assassination.
• Polar Opposite Twins: With her sister Rhaena. Baela was the Hot-Blooded Rebellious Princess while Rhaena was the Girly Girl Proper Lady. Their dragons also show a contrasting lunar/solar theme, with Baela's being named Moondancer and Rhaena's being named Morning. Nonetheless, they were close, and, together, a force to be reckoned with.
• Rebellious Princess:
  • Constantly frustrated her guardians by keeping "improper" company and sneaking out, but this allowed her to evade her captors during the fall of Dragonstone and reach her dragon, Moondancer, leading to her fateful duel with Aegon II.
  • After Aegon's regents started getting concerned about the line of succession, they tried to marry Baela off to the nearest guy quicklike. Baela strongly rejected the offer of Thaddeus Rowan for being fat and bald, and got locked up in her room. The next morning, it turned out she'd already escaped by disguising herself as a washerwoman and walking out the Red Keep's front gate.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the early days of Aegon III's reign, she and her sister are mentioned to be the only royals actually active in the city of King's Landing.
• Sibling Team: With her twin sister, Rhaena, in the court of Aegon III.
• Spanner in the Works: Aegon II thought he was making a grand entrance to a newly taken Dragonstone, on his dragon Sunfyre, but suddenly found himself attacked by Baela upon Moondancer. He survived the encounter, despite severely damaging his legs, but his dragon did not.
  • She and Rhaena presenting Baela's ward Daenaera Velaryon to Aegon III at the Maiden's Day Ball destroyed Unwin Peake's plans to get Aegon to marry his own daughter.
• A Taste of the Lash: When Ser Marston Waters tried to stop Baela and Rhaena from approaching the Iron Throne at Unwin Peake's command during the Maiden's Day Ball, Baela struck the Kingsguard across the face with her riding crop.
  Baela Targaryen: His Grace my brother can command me. You cannot.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to her sister Rhaena's girly girl.
• Tomboy Princess: Wore her hair short like a boy and was said sneak out to race horses and drink with the soldiers in the barracks.
• Troll: She was known for messing with people's heads.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: She survived her wounds from the duel at Dragonstone (and Aegon II's periodic attempts to execute her) and convinced Aegon III (and Cregan Stark) to pardon her grandfather Corlys, she brought Daenaera Velaryon to court to marry Aegon, and she married her legitimized cousin Alyn of Hull, with whom she had children. Then? Well, she must have died before 171 because her niece Elaena (who had been released from the Maidenvault that year) wanted to marry her husband Alyn, which would have been illegal had Baela still lived.

Lady Rhaena Targaryen

Lady Rhaena Targaryen

Rhaena of Pentos

The other twin daughter of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon. According to the family tree in The World of Ice and Fire, she was married twice, to Corwin Corbray (with whom she had no children), and to Garmund Hightower (with whom she had six unnamed daughters).

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• Arranged Marriage: With her cousin Lucerys Velaryon, but he died before they could marry. She also had an arranged marriage to Ser Corwyn Corbray.
• Dragon Rider: Her first dragon hatchling died hours after emerging from the egg, but one of her replacement eggs hatched later in the war, and she named the hatchling "Morning"—one of only four living dragons by the end of the Dance. Though Morning did not live long, she did live long enough for Rhaena to ride her.
• Innocently Insensitive: Brought her dragon, Morning, before her half-brother Aegon III, not realizing that he'd developed a deep phobia of dragons after seeing his mother Eaten Alive by his uncle's dragon.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: She had six daughters with her second husband.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Named after her maternal grandmother, Rhaenys.
• Polar Opposite Twins: With her sister Baela. Rhaena was the Girly Girl Proper Lady, while Baela was the Hot-Blooded Rebellious Princess. Their dragons also show a contrasting lunar/solar theme, with Baela's being named Moondancer and Rhaena's being named Morning. Nonetheless, they were close, and, together, a force to be reckoned with.
• Last of His Kind: She was the last known dragonrider of her house before Dany hatched her dragons and took Drogon for a ride.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the early days of Aegon III's reign, she and her sister are mentioned to be the only royals actually active in the city of King's Landing.
• Sibling Team: With her twin sister, Baela, in the court of Aegon III.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She was considered a tractable young woman who deferred to the decisions of the ruling Council (and was certainly more polite than Baela about not wanting an old, fat husband), but after her first husband was killed, her sister Baela went to Dragonstone both to comfort her widowed twin and to make certain that Rhaena did not attempt to avenge her husband herself on her dragon.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to her sister Baela's tomboy.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Like her sister, she advised Aegon III and helped arrange his marriage to their cousin Daenaera. We know whom she married and how many children she had, but we know nothing else about her life.

Household

Ser Gareth Long

Ser Gareth Long

Ser Gareth Long was a household knight in service to House Peake, serving as Starpike's master at arms, having a reputation of being a harsh but effective taskmaster. During Lord Unwin Peake's tenure as Hand of the King for Aegon III, he was appointed as the Red Keep's master at arms, where he quickly earned the young king's hatred for his brutal training methods. Gareth remained in King's Landing even after Peake was dismissed as Hand, until he was caught being involved in a conspiracy to depose Aegon, after which he joined the Night's Watch to avoid execution.

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• Brutal Honesty: When arrested for his part in the conspiracy against Aegon III and his Lyseni in-laws, Gareth never denied his involvement, calling Aegon a weakling unfit to sit on the Iron Throne.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Like Alliser Thorne, he's a deconstruction. He was cruel and abusive to the boys he trained, making him universally hated in the Red Keep, and actually terrible as an instructor. When Aegon was finally allowed someone else to teach him, it was discovered he wasn't that bad at all.
• Fish out of Water: House Long is a minor noble house from the North. How Gareth ended up a flunky of House Peake is anyone's guess.
• Graceful Loser: When he was arrested for his involvement in the failed conspiracy against Aegon III, he freely confessed his involvement, implicated a co-conspirator, killed the co-conspirator when he called for a Trial by Combat over the accusation, and then shipped off for the Wall without any resistance.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Since he wasn't allowed to harm Aegon when the young king refused to obey his instructions, Gareth convinced Unwin Peake to make Gaemon Palehair, a bastard boy who was one of the few friends Aegon had at court, the king's whipping boy to make Aegon more compliant.
• Jerkass: By all accounts, a caustic asshole all around, and quite reminiscent of Ser Alliser Thorne.
• Meaningful Name: He worked for House Targaryen, and "Long" is the Chinese word for dragon.
• Nepotism: His appointment as the Red Keep's master at arms was almost certainly only due to his connection to Unwin Peake.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: During the standoff known as the "secret siege", where Aegon and Viserys barricaded themselves in Maegor's Holdfast to protect Viserys's Lyseni wife Larra Rogare from being arrested on false charges, Gareth was one of those who tried to get Aegon to surrender. Aegon, who'd long hated the cruel and abusive master at arms, retorted to Long's entreaty by pointing out the knight could no longer coerce the boy king into behaving by threatening Gaemon Palehair, who was long dead by that time.
  Aegon III: And if I will not, who will you threaten, ser? You may beat poor Gaemon's bones, but you will get no more blood from him.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Gareth chose to take the black rather than be executed for his involvement in the conspiracy against Aegon III.
• Trial by Combat: After his arrest for treason, Gareth implicated Ser Victor Risley, the King's Justice, as another conspirator against Aegon III. Risley demanded trial by combat against his accuser to prove his innocence, only to be slain by Gareth before he was shipped off to Castle Black.
• Would Hurt a Child: One gets the impression he would've been happy to physically punish Aegon III if he could. Instead, he had to settle for beating Gaemon Palehair.

Gaemon Palehair

Gaemon Palehair

During the chaos that engulfed King's Landing during the Dance of the Dragons, Gaemon's mother Essie claimed that her son - four years old at the time - was the bastard of Aegon II and proclaimed him king. Seated in the House of Kisses atop Visenya's Hill, he began to issue decrees to thousands of his followers. After the city was reclaimed, Gaemon's mother was hanged after admitting Gaemon's father was a Lyseni oarsman, but he was spared and became a servant of the king's household, namely Aegon III's whipping boy and food taster. He eventually died in an attempted poisoning aimed at King Aegon III and Queen Daenaera.

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• All There in the Manual: Only mentioned in The World of Ice & Fire and Fire & Blood.
• A Taste of the Lash: Gareth Long would whip him if he felt Aegon III wasn't putting enough effort into his sword-fighting instruction.
• The Chew Toy: While he and Aegon III were friends, one can't help but feel he might've actually been happier getting sent back to the streets. When Aegon didn't take to sword-fighting, his Drill Sergeant Nasty would beat up Gaemon to "motivate" the young king. When Prince Viserys returned, Aegon pretty much forgot all about Gaemon entirely, and then he died in the opening act of an attempted coup.
• Kill the Cutie: He was only nine when he died, in horrific circumstances.
• Mother Makes You King: Didn't work out though.
• Mystical White Hair: He had silver Targaryen-looking hair, which allowed his mother to claim he was a royal bastard of Aegon II and set him up as a Puppet King.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Of Lambert Simnel, a lowborn figurehead set up as a pretender to the English throne during the reign of Henry VII who was likewise spared in the aftermath of the revolt's defeat and given a place in the royal kitchens.
• Odd Friendship: He became friends with Aegon III, becoming a near constant companion - until Prince Viserys returned to the capital - and food taster. He later died of poison, which many suspects was intended for the king and queen.
• Puppet King: For his mother, Essie, who issued "edicts" in his name. The edicts that did not originate from Essie were said to have come from her paramour, Sylvenna Sand.
• Son of a Whore: His mother was a whore at the House of Kisses, and his father was a silver-haired oarsman from Lys. At least, that's the story his mother confessed under torture. Considering Aegon II's habits - and his sparing of Gaemon in a time where he had already become ruthless - there is still the possibility Gaemon really was his bastard.
  • An alternative possibility is that his father really was from Lys. The runaway Princess Saera had kids there who had inherited the family looks, and were last heard of at the Great Council that made Viserys I king, which would make Gaemon a legit Targaryen, if a distant off-shoot.
• You Will Be Spared: Gaemon's mother and her paramour were executed when Aegon II retook King's Landing, but the king spared the boy on account of his youth.

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