Characters / A Song of Ice and Fire - House Blackfyre

This is a listing of members of House Blackfyre that appear in A Song of Ice and Fire.

For the main character index, see here

For the main Crownlands entry, see here

House Blackfyre

The Black Dragons ^note Not to be confused with The Blacks, a faction of the Dance of the Dragons civil war

Personal coat of arms of Daemon Blackfyre, later adopted as the House Blackfyre arms as a whole

Aegon the Fourth legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed. And how much pain, grief, war and murder grew from that?

—Catelyn Stark

A cadet branch of House Targaryen, founded by Daemon Blackfyre, the legitimized bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen by his cousin Daena Targaryen. In what turned to be an ironic twist of fate, House Blackfyre was established as a noble house by the grace of King Daeron II, Aegon IV's son and successor (and the very king they rebelled against), who fulfilling his father's deathbed wishes for his bastard son and Daeron's half-brother, paid for Daemon's wedding to Rohanne of Tyrosh and gave them a tract of land in Westeros to build a keep for themselves, in which they lived for 12 years before the rebellion and established a rather large family.

Being subject to the advice of Bittersteel (another of King Aegon's Great Bastards) and Quentyn Ball (the Master at Arms to the Red Keep), and supposedly resentful of his bastardy, Daemon rose in rebellion in 196 AC by claiming the Iron Throne on the basis that he was his father's favorite son, despite his bastard status, and on the rumor that King Daeron was really the son of Aemon the Dragonknight. All of Westeros was drawn into the Blackfyre Rebellion, dividing many regions against each other. The revolt ended at the Battle of the Redgrass Field, where Daemon and his two eldest sons were cut down and his remaining children were forced to flee to Essos under the protection of Bittersteel. It's not known what became of the keep and lands awarded to them.

Several Blackfyre sons of Daemon, most backed by Bittersteel, attempted to return to Westeros to claim the Iron Throne (leading to four other Blackfyre rebellions), but all were defeated. With the death of Maelys the Monstrous by Barristan Selmy's sword, the Blackfyres are considered extinguished as far as the Seven Kingdoms are concerned, but no one has accounted for the Blackfyre women.

House Blackfyre is named for the sword of the same name, granted by King Aegon IV to Daemon.

All the general tropes relating to House Targaryen also apply, for obvious reasons. See below for the Blackfyre specific-ones.

General Tropes

• Ancestral Weapon: They are named after the Targaryen's ancestral Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre, which Aegon the Unworthy gave to Daemon, and took it with them to Essos.
• Annoying Arrows: Averted — arrows seem to be the bane of Blackfyres, with Daemon and his twin sons Aegon and Aemon all dying from them at the Battle of the Redgrass Field.
• Arch-Enemy: They fancied themselves this to House Targaryen. In reality, however, Brynden Rivers was more this to them than they were to it. His sustained Battle of Wits and willingness to discard almost every Westerosi taboo and pay the price for doing so all to break them over decades turned them from a viable threat to very close to extinct.
• Bastard Bastard: Depending on your point of view, you could see all of them as one (or, possibly, even both) of this or Heroic Bastard. On the one hand, they do have the blood of kings and queens in their veins (and all that means with it coming from House Targaryen). On the other hand... they have presumably mixed it up slightly more than the other branch have, by virtue of not being able to adhere to dynastic incest (brother-sister, uncle-niece, etc.) quite so much care of losing the male line by dribs and drabs and then entirely (well, kind of: what we know of the first couple of generations, they arguably stuck to the old "keep it in the family" rules slightly more than the Targaryen side at that point were, but they would have been greatly pushed to maintain that as time went on). Some will, naturally, be more heroic than others. Unless you consider them all villains (like most loyal to House Targaryen would).
• Big Bad Wannabe: Each Blackfyre Rebellion is less successful than the previous one. The War of the Ninepenny Kings (the fifth rebellion), didn't even take place in Westeros.
  • The Second Blackfyre Rebellion deserves a special mention, as it barely qualified as a rebellion and got axed before it even started. The Blackfyre claimant this time, Daemon II Blackfyre, didn't even have the support of the Aegor and the Golden Company (on account of his entire plan hinging on a supposedly prophetic dream), so he had to oversee the entire "rebellion" mostly on his own. Said rebellion consisted of him gathering a bunch of Blackfyre loyalists to a tourney and hopefully winning it, thus impressing them into declaring for him. As it turned out, however, Daemon was an absolutely mediocre fighter, necessitating his supporters to bribe his opponents for the plan to have any chance of success. However, they met a giant roadblock when they came across Glendon Flowers, who refused to be bribed, forcing them to disqualify him through subterfuge instead. This might have worked, but then Daemon just had to prove his gallantry by offering Glendon a trial by combat, which he somehow managed to lose despite Glendon still reeling from his torture. Needless to say, upon seeing this wannabe king lose to a weakened hedge knight, all of the Blackfyre loyalists present retracted their support from him, and once Brynden Rivers came knocking, they all abandoned him to his fate.
    Dunk: The First Blackfyre Rebellion had perished on the Redgrass Field in blood and glory. The Second Blackfyre Rebellion, ended with a whimper.
• Cain and Abel: The Cains to the Targaryen's Abels. The treacherous brothers that bit the hand that fed them and were punished to err the earth without finding either a true home or solace in their trek.
• Create Your Own Villain: How they came to be when the various sides of the Targaryens turned on each other to form the split. Their reverse-coloured shield only emphasizes this.
• "Darkness von Gothick" Name: The House has a tendency to go for these when it comes to their boys. Not that we're complaining.
• The Determinator: It doesn't matter that they have failed every single time to win the throne; as long as there's a Blackfyre left breathing, they'll keep trying. If Young Griff is indeed a Blackfyre survivor from the female line, then not even the extinction of their male line is enough to deter them.
• The Exile: The surviving sons of Daemon fled across the Narrow Sea, under the protection of Bittersteel. It's wise to expect that some Culture Clash even with House Targaryen will have arisen as a result — beyond the whole Bonnie Prince Charlie thing the whole House has. The odds are good that they gradually became more Essosi the longer they'd lived away from Westeros. However, it's likely the drift from Valyrian culture itself is still roughly the same, as Essos... isn't that friendly to many aspects of it, currently. Nobody is overly fond of representatives of their old, high-handed landlords, after all.
• Fantastic Racism: The Blackfyres and their largely Reach-based supporters generally hate the Dornish with a passion, and both resented Daeron II's marriage to a Martell, the marriage of the first Daenerys to her brother and the rise of Dornish influence in court matters and culture. That said, many of the Reach lords died fighting for the Young Dragon who was finally killed at a parley by Dornish hands and, as such, they may have regarded the Dornish as being a set of Houdinis. While their own sacrifices and losses were entirely buried to play nice with them. That had to hurt.
• Fantasy Conflict Counterpart:
  • The Blackfyre Rebellion in terms of its personal and emotional grudges, and the longstanding bitter memories is quite evocative of the Hanover-Stuart Wars and the Jacobite Rebellion. The causes for the conflict involve a Succession Crisis rather than Parliamentary Reform, but the lengthy slow-burn conflict with the Jacobite becoming The Remnant on another continent, periodically courting allies from foreign rulers and the way in which sympathizers are hunted down and persecuted in the besieged kingdom is highly similar. Like the Blackfyres, many Jacobite sympathizers became exiles who either assimilated into another Continent and/or became full-time mercenaries.
  • Ser Eustace is an old veteran who spends a lot of time thinking about the "what if" scenarios that could have changed the outcome and mythologizing fallen rebel leaders. He's a Westerosi version of a Confederate who cherishes the memory of the Lost Cause.
  • The First Blackfyre Rebellion has shades of the First Barons' War as well, being a popular revolt by rebellious lesser nobility, which was caused by a king infamously Unfit for Greatness but left to his son to fix. The timeline lines up as well - Roughly two generations after Daeron I's failed conquest of Dorne (Corresponding to the Third Crusade.) and four generations after the Dance of the Dragons. (Corresponding to the Anarchy.)
• Foil: To the Baratheons, of all people. Both houses were descended from the Targaryens, but while the Blackfyres were famously so, the Baratheon's Targaryen ancestry was only known among maesters and a few early Targaryens. On the other hand, whereas the Blackfyres failed over and over again to win the Iron Throne, the Baratheons succeeded after only one attempt. Appearance-wise, while the Blackfyres retained much of their ancestral Valyrian look and culture, the Baratheons have gone completely native and look indistinguishable from any Westerosi.
• History Repeats: Aegon IV's Great Bastards were not the first dabbling of the Targaryens into the legitimization of bastards, nor the only ones that caused trouble; first had come the Dragonseeds from the Dance Of Dragons, baseborn bastards of Dragonstone, whom Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen used to fill up position as dragon riders in her war against her half-brother Aegon II. Further fueling the in-universe superstition that bastard children are double-edged swords — half of them (Ulf The White and Hugh Hammer) turned against her and in favor of Aegon.
  • By contrast, had Rhaenyra not legitimized the Dragonseeds, House Velaryon would have disappeared. Likewise, had Aegon IV not legitimized his bastards, the Iron Throne would have devoid of one of its most influencing Hands of the King, Bloodraven.
  • The Blackfyres themselves are a portent of the fate of the last Targaryens - defeated and forced into exile in Essos, stubbornly continuing to style themselves as monarchs but having little power to back it up. If Aegon VI is who he claims to be, the Targaryens even end up invading Westeros with the Golden Company at their back.
• Honor Before Reason: The Blackfyres kept rebelling against the Crown despite losing every battle and despite dwindling support. They do this largely for the memory of how Daemon Blackfyre would have been a great King. They also cite, not without justice, the constant underhanded ways used by the Targaryens to combat them. Bloodraven felled Daemon and his sons by a Rain of Arrows, then he converted Westeros into a Police State and spied on people to the point that nobody was comfortable speaking their minds. Haegon Blackfyre was killed by treachery and Aenys Blackfyre murdered after being given diplomatic safe passage, which was so shocking that even the Targaryens had to finally get rid of Lord Brynden or face consequences.
• In the Blood: Twins and other... multiple birth complications and oddities (as the case of Maelys the Monstrous) seem to happen slightly more to House Blackfyre than House Targaryen by proportion, for some reason (although House Targaryen has certainly had its instances, too). Makes one wonder about the degree of undetected chimerism and/or mosaicism there could be in both families (Shiera Seastar being a likely glaring example).
• Irony: As it would turn out, Daeron II's line nearly went extinct even without the Blackfyres intervening, so had they not decided to rebel, they might have inherited the throne during the Great Council. The irony was not lost on them either, considering that Aenys Blackfyre came back to Westeros to peacefully stake his claim during said Great Council.
• It's Personal: Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers was one of the Blackfyre's greatest champions. Bloodraven hated his guts (the feeling was mutual), so trying to exterminate the Blackfyres may have been a form of Revenge by Proxy for Bloodraven against his half-brother.
• Left Hanging: Maelys The Monstrous was officially the last Blackfyre pretender; or, at the very least, the last one who actually tried. It was a certainly tumultuous family from which the women are conspicuously not mentioned: aside from only one, Calla Blackfyre, daughter of Daemon I, who was married to Bittersteel... and, that's all we know of her. That whole aspect of the family is completely unaccounted for, and no one has bothered to check for them or what they have achieved with their lives.
• Might Makes Right: The basic belief of Blackfyre supporters and loyalists as to why Daemon and his descendants have the better claim as opposed to Daeron. Daemon Blackfyre was more of a warrior and a superior battle commander, and he wielded the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, while Daeron was considered weak, too scholarly, and surrounded himself with Dornish people and maesters. The fact that they have lost every single battle to claim the crown is an irony that escapes them.
• No Woman's Land: Isn't it odd how the Targaryen family gives us plenty of information on various of its women and girls... but, the Blackfyres do not? For Valyrian descendants, this goes beyond merely "odd" and may or may not point to something else going on behind the scenes in Essos. Well, beyond Westerosi Lords not being all that interested in them, so not bothering with the information. Even Westerosi-descended Valyrian girls aren't generally renowned for being exclusively wallflowers, so it stands to reason that the reimported Essosi ones aren't, either. The only Blackfyre girl mentioned is Daemon's daughter Calla, who married her half-uncle Bittersteel.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Blackfyres are just Targaryens with the serial numbers filed off.
• The Remnant: According to Illyrio Mopatis, House Blackfyre is extinct in the male line, but he makes no mention about the female side. Cue Epileptic Trees.
• Shadow Archetype: They have this going with the Targaryens over all, but Daemon and his sons have this more specifically with Maekar Targaryen and his sons, who were the generation of Targaryens who opposed them the most:
  • Daemon was the oldest and most popular of the Great Bastards; Maekar was the least popular and youngest of Daeron’s sons.
  • Daemon was killed by his young brother Bloodraven, while Maekar accidentally slew his older brother Baelor.
  • Daemon died trying to usurp the crown; Maekar reluctantly came to the throne after everyone ahead of him died.
  • Daemon drew much political strength from anti-Dornish sentiment, while Maekar wasn’t just half-Dornish like his brothers, but also married a Dornishwoman.
  • Daemon’s two oldest sons were named Aegon and Aemon, while Maekar’s youngest sons were named Aemon and Aegon.
  • Both had sons who qualify as the Non-Action Guy experiencing confusing “Dragon dreams” they misinterpret who are discounted by other members of the family.
  • The Blackfyres had Bittersteel on their side, the Targaryens had Bloodraven.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: Played With; one thing that separates the Blackfyre rebellions from other Westerosi civil wars like Robert's Rebellion or the War of Five Kings is that all eight great houses sided with the crown, with the Blackfyres instead drawing their support from among lesser houses like the Reynes and Peakes - One might say it was a conflict of Snobs versus even snobbier Snobs, but from the perspective of the nobility it would have certainly been seen as this trope, and as the repeated failures of the Blackfyres piled up and they began to draw their support from mercenaries and criminals rather than the nobility, it came close to being Played Straight.
• The Starscream: To the Targaryen Kings. Mostly due to their unwillingness to become part of the Royal Court as subservient to people they considered equal to themselves.
  • Likewise, some of their supporters were the "overmighty vassals" of the Westerosi great houses like House Yronwood, despite the anti-Dornish bent of the rebels; House Reyne, and House Peake.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: The Blackfyres were a Cadet Branch of legitimized bastards, and despite the fact that their Arch-Enemy Bloodraven was another bastard, they later became Exhibit A for the stigma perceiving bastards as resentful, untrustworthy, grabby for power, and never to be given the slightest consideration over trueborn children. Catelyn invokes them in an attempt to stop Robb Stark from naming his half-brother Jon Snow as his heir.
• The Unreveal: It's not quite explained why was it so damn important for Bloodraven to keep the Blackfyres away from the throne. At first, it seemed to stem from plain loyalty, but his actions against Aenys Blackfyre bordered on the illogical and had touches of zealotry or even something perhaps more macabre.
  • As previously mentioned, the fate of the Blackfyre women.
  • It's also not known what happened with Blackfyre, the eponymous Sword of Kings. None of the pretenders bar Daemon bore the sword, which was taken by Bittersteel upon Daemon's death at the Redgrass Field. Presumably, it should be currently under the possession of the Golden Company from the hands of Bittersteel, though no mention of its fate has appeared in the books as of yet.
• Written by the Winners:
  • Ser Eustace Osgrey, a character in The Sworn Sword who was once a Blackfyre supporter, argues that the Blackfyre cause included several worthy knights and lords, that Daemon Blackfyre was a noble lord who would have made an excellent king, and that it is only because of their defeat that the Blackfyres are seen as villains. On the other hand, you have the view of a selfish, overly-entitled brat who launched a rebellion that killed thousands of people for the sake of his own vanity and screwed the realm up enormously. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.
  • Notably, despite being a claim primarily made by Blackfyre supporters, the belief that Daemon and Princess Daenerys were in love has entered the realm of common knowledge by the time of the series, even while maesters such as Yandel point out reasons to doubt that was true.

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King Daemon I Blackfyre

King Daemon Blackfyre, the First of His Name; r. 195-196

Daemon Waters^note -Before he was legitimized, The Black Dragon, The King Who Bore The Sword, The Pretender

"Some old dead king gave a sword to one son instead of another. That was the start of it,"

—Ser Duncan The Tall in the cause of the Blackfyre Rebellion.

The first and greatest of the Blackfyre Pretenders was the natural son of Daena Targaryen, sister, betrothed, and (briefly) wife to King Baelor the Blessed. Baelor never consummated the marriage, and had it dissolved when he ascended the Iron Throne. Daena and her two sisters were thereafter kept in a comfortable confinement in the Red Keep, in what became known as the Maidenvault. Despite her guards, Daena became pregnant and gave birth to a strong, healthy son, Daemon. It was not until many years later, when the boy was a squire and bested a score of other squires in a tournament melee, that King Aegon IV (Princess Daena's cousin) acknowledged him as his own, and presented him with Blackfyre, the Valyrian steel blade of Aegon the Conqueror (and all the Targaryen kings thereafter), thus sowing the seeds of the future rebellion. This event led to the creation of a new House, which Daemon chose to name after the sword. According to The World of Ice & Fire, Daemon was married to Lady Rohanne of Tyrosh, with whom he had seven sons and several daughters.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: While the rebel lords do state that Blackfyre and Daenerys loved each other (a claim that they made popular), there was no evidence that Daenerys loved him back, even mentioned him, or showed any contempt for her betrothal and marriage to the Prince of Dorne in all the years she stayed in Sunspear.
• All There in the Manual: Several details of Daemon's life (his exact year of birth, the identity of his wife, the names of several of his children, etc.) are only mentioned in The World of Ice & Fire.
• Annoying Arrows: Averted. Bloodraven sent a rain of arrows down on the forces. His son Aegon first, knowing Daemon wouldn't abandon his body, then Daemon himself, and finally Aemon. All three died in this manner.
• Arranged Marriage: To Rohanne of Tyrosh, a marriage arranged by his father Aegon IV and the Archon of Tyrosh.
• Authority in Name Only. Implied. While it's widely stated by his supporters that Daemon rose in rebellion out of love for being denied the hand of Daenerys, politically, not considering him as a potential husband for her simply meant that the crown was actively undermining his worth as a valid suitor and his claim of legitimacy, which was the ulterior problem. Because it's related to the main core of the problem and it's a big elephant in the room, it's understandable why Daemon's supporters don't tend to touch this side of the story; the fact that Daemon rebelled eight years after Daenerys married the Prince of Dorne also gives credence to it not being a factor. This would explain why Archmaester Gyldayn states that he didn't find any evidence of Daenerys referring to Daemon even once, as Daemon wanted a betrothal with the princess as a strategic political move. This is not nearly as romantic, though!
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: How Daemon's supporters viewed Aegon IV giving him Blackfyre, the Targaryen sword of kings. Others think that this gesture is overthought.
  Egg: "My father says that was because Daemon was a swordsman, and Daeron never was. Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride? The sword was not the kingdom, he says."
• Bastard Bastard: Played with. Daemon was certainly a bastard, but he was just as Targaryen as his half-brother Daeron other than being born out of wedlock. Of all Targaryen Great Bastards, Daemon certainly had a decent claim for the throne among the doubts placed on Daeron by their father Aegon IV himself.
• Big Bad: Was considered the greatest threat to the Targaryen monarchy before Robert Baratheon.
• Bling of War: Beyond Blackfyre itself, he wasn't adverse to dressing up to kill people.
• "Darkness von Gothick" Name: Just look at it. Really rolls off the tongue and gives goose-pimples of varying descriptions, doesn't it? Very Metal.
• Dead Guy Junior: Named after his great-grandfather, Daemon Targaryen (father of Aegon III and Viserys II).
• Even Evil Has Standards: During the Battle of the Redgrass Field, Daemon dueled Ser Gwayne Corbray for an entire hour and barely defeated him. He found the rival knight so gallant, however, that he had him sent to his maester to be healed.

• Fantastic Racism: His mother, who raised him before he was acknowledged, idolized her brother Daeron, who was killed at Dorne. His father suffered a humiliating defeat in Dorne as well. Combine that with the perception that Daeron's deal in bringing Dorne under the Iron Throne was too favorable for Dorne, and you have another reason why he rose in revolt.
• Fatal Flaw: Daemon was unable to leave good men behind, friend or foe. Helping Gwayne Corbray gave Bloodraven and his archers time to zero in on his position. Bloodraven then shot Daemon's eldest son, knowing his father would not leave him.

• Heroic Build: Played with; he was very tall, strong, and handsome, and he was also an honorable knight. However, no one left alive remembers him as a heroic figure due to the Blackfyre Rebellion and remember him for the traitorous reputation he earned from it.
• History Repeats: Just like his Targaryen namesake ancestor, Daemon didn't get to reign. No Targaryen man named Daemon ever sat on the Iron Throne, as a matter of fact.
  • His is the first example on why you don't want the Targaryens to be forced to marry; his mother Daena was the sister-wife of King Baelor I, who scorned her out of religious piety and locked her with their sisters to avoid temptation and she sneaked out to bear Daemon with her cousin Aegon IV. Years later, King Jaehaerys II forced siblings Aerys and Rhaella Targaryen to wed, worsening Aerys' madness and leading to the almost total annihilation of the Targaryen kings.
• Honor Before Reason: Daemon, after defeating Gwayne Corbray in a fight, gets down and personally helps take him to the maester to be healed. This honourable conduct gives Bloodraven time to gain the high ground with his archers, the Ravens Teeth, and murder Daemon and his sons with a rain of arrows. Ser Eustace Osgrey even mentions this being the most likely cause for the failure of the rebellion(though there were others)and laments that Daemon could have just ridden over his foe to continue the battle.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Daemon's few supporters still maintain he could have been one of the greats had he become king. It's pointed out that Daemon didn't become king not because his claim wasn't valid, but because he lost the war.
  Ser Eustace: Daeron surrounded himself with maesters, septons, and singers. Always there were women whispering in his ear, and his court was full of Dornishmen... Daemon, though... Daemon was no more pious than a king need be, and all the great knights of the realm gathered to him. It would suit Lord Bloodraven if their names were all forgotten, so he has forbidden us to sing of them, but I remember. Robb Reyne, Gareth the Grey, Ser Aubrey Ambrose, Lord Gormon Peake, Black Byren Flowers, Redtusk, Fireball...Bittersteel! I ask you, has there ever been such a noble company, such a roll of heroes? Why, lad? You ask me why? Because Daemon was the better man. The old king saw it too. He gave the sword to Daemon. Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, the blade that every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest... he put that sword in Daemon's hand the day he knighted him, a boy of twelve.
• Long-Dead Badass: Seen as the greatest warrior of his time.
• Love Ruins the Realm: While his half-brother Bittersteel and best friend Quentyn Ball and his resentment at being a bastard were the main instigators of his rebellion, a more personal reason was that his half-sister Daenerys was married to the Prince of Dorne, despite the love they both shared (though some sources discredit this part of the story, as both Daemon and Daenerys were married to other people and both had several children from said marriages by the time of the Blackfyre Rebellion). Also, his father was an idiot and Henry VIII-like-individual who couldn't keep it in his codpiece — which was the root cause of the whole mess.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Had seven sons (Aegon, Aemon, Daemon II, Haegon, Aenys, and two unnamed sons) and at least two daughters (the eldest of which was named Calla).
• Master Swordsman: Daemon mastered all the weapons of war but he was compared to The Warrior himself when wielding Blackfyre and was literally godlike.
• Multiple-Choice Past: The reasons for his rebellion. Anti-Blackfyres claim that he resented being illegitimate and that he was persuaded by sycophants. Pro-Blackfyres claim that Daeron II was manipulated by his Dornish lackeys to arrest Daemon.
• Names to Run Away From: Blackfyre sounds like black fire, which isn't a natural color of fire and evokes images of evil. Also, "Daemon".
• The Paragon Always Rebels: He was widely regarded as one of the best knights in Westeros before he launched his rebellion.
• Posthumous Character: By dint of the time difference with the main series.
• The Rashomon: Accounts for his reasons to rebel against the Targaryens differ. Of course, the most popular theory states that he rebelled due to the Crown's denying him the right to marry his half-sister Daenerys, but many years had passed between the scorning and his rebellion and both he and Daenerys had already established households with children with their respective partners. This fact opens the possibility that he rebelled out of plain greed or that he was convinced to do so by either Bittersteel (who was scorned himself), or Fireball, or both.
• The Resenter: Even though Daeron wanted to make them a part of not only the court, but also of the Targaryen household, Daemon Blackfyre had bigger plans once he was legitimized. This, of course, did not sit well with Daeron, who gave Daemon's side a worthy war.
• Royal Bastard: One of the most notable examples of this trope in the background of the series. Daemon was one of the four Great Bastards of King Aegon the Unworthy and waged a terrible war over what he felt was his rightful claim to his father's throne. In the Westerosi tradition, he used his parent house's heraldry with inverted colors (a three-headed black dragon on red, rather than a red one of black).
• Shadow Archetype: He's long dead before Jon Snow is born, but Catelyn invokes Daemon and the other Blackfyres as a warning when her son Robb wants to legitimize his half-brother Jon Snow, who (as Robb argues) wouldn't ever harm his trueborn siblings' claims as Jon grew up loving his siblings. Later on, Jon himself ends up turning down Winterfell when Stannis offers to legitimize him. Nonetheless, there do exist parallels between Jon and Daemon. Both are illegitimate sons who are cared for deeply by their fathers, both are skilled warriors, and both are considered to physically resemble their patrilineal forefathers more than the actual heir. Daemon might have been more like Jon if Daemon had grown up close with his trueborn brother — the heir — as Jon shared a close relationship with Robb, and if Daemon was raised by a father like Jon's father Eddard Stark, who openly acknowledged Jon from birth, was a good parent, responsible ruler and husband. However, Daemon had Aegon the Unworthy as a father, who was an irresponsible parent and ruler, and the identity of Daemon's father was kept secret from the public until he was 12 when he proves himself as a superior fighter in a melee; thereafter, Aegon openly acknowledged him as his illegitimate son.
• Shed the Family Name: Even though Daemon is the son of Aegon IV and Daena the Defiant (both Targaryens) and is by rights a full Targaryen, he was born out of wedlock, so he took the name of Blackfyre the Sword Of Kings for himself when he was legitimized by Aegon. Daemon is unique in the fact that he is the only full Targaryen among both the Great Bastards and the Blackfyres.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his half-brother Daeron: he was a Warrior Prince; Daeron was a scholar. This difference convinced a lot of people that they had different fathers and sparked the Blackfyre rebellion.
• Straw Hypocrite: More on the part of his supporters but likewise... how does Daemon Blackfyre accusing Daeron II of not being a warrior and a great fighter — and invoking Might Makes Right — count when Daemon lost the first Blackfyre Rebellion and his sons inherited the tradition of repeated defeats? (Particularly when said supporters do their best to fix a tournament so that Daemon II can look good, including torturing other contestants when they won't cooperate.) Doesn't that mean in fact that Daeron II WAS the rightful king after all?
• Strong Family Resemblance: Supporters of Daemon Blackfyre said that he resembled portraits of Aegon the Conqueror. Word of God affirms that he indeed did resemble Aegon I but had long hair rather than the closely cut short hair of the Conqueror.
• Tragic Mistake: Helping Gwayne Corbray.
• Undignified Death: Bloodraven rained arrows on him and his twin sons, effectively ending the rebellion right then and there.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Daeron paid for his wedding, gave him lands and a keep on which he lived comfortably for 12 years, having multiple kids with his wife. Aegon IV might have been the one that recognized him, but Daeron was the one who gave him everything he had. He paid him back by rebelling and claiming that Daeron had no right to the Iron Throne.
• Warrior Prince: He's a prince and he won a tournament when he was a kid.
• World's Best Warrior: Zigzagged. His followers certainly thought him as invincible in combat, far surpassing other great knights and rivaling the Warrior himself. He was in fact one of the greatest swordsmen to ever set foot in the Seven Kingdoms, but in accordance with the realistic tone of the series it is stated there is no such thing as an invincible warrior. Certainly a major contender for the title though.

Aegon & Aemon Blackfyre

Aegon & Aemon Blackfyre

"...I once dreamed of my brothers lying dead. They were twelve and I was only seven, so they laughed at me, and died."

—Daemon Blackfyre II

Eldest children and twin sons of Daemon Blackfyre and Rohanne of Tyrosh. Aegon was the firstborn and thus Daemon's heir.

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• Named After Somebody Famous: Daemon was constantly compared to Aegon I and Aemon the Dragonknight so he named his twins after them.
• Posthumous Character: They perished at the Battle of the Redgrass Field along with their father.
• The Bully: Both of them, according to Lord Alyn Cockshaw.
• The Squire: The two squired for their father.
• Take Up My Sword: Subverted. Aemon manages to briefly take hold of the sword after his father and brother are killed but he also dies before he can do anything else.
• Those Two Guys: A natural enough consequence of being twins.

King Daemon II Blackfyre

King Daemon Blackfyre, the Second of His Name; r. 212

Ser John the Fiddler, the Brown Dragon

"Be my dog, ser. The night's alive with promise. We can howl together, and wake the very gods."

—"John the Fiddler" hitting on Ser Duncan.

The third son of Daemon Blackfyre and Rohanne of Tyrosh, who (unsuccessfully) attempted to start a second Blackfyre Rebellion at the Whitewalls Tourney in 211 AL.

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• "Darkness von Gothick" Name: As with most Blackfyres.
• The Ditz: Dude was definitely working on a slightly different wavelength than everybody else...
• Don't Create a Martyr: Bloodraven invokes this trope when asked by Duncan about Daemon's fate, explaining that if they execute him, the Blackfyres will have a martyr and Bittersteel will simply crown one of his brothers. Alive, Daemon serves as both an example of the Iron Throne's mercy and an obstacle to Bittersteel's ambition.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: He foresaw his brothers' deaths and Duncan becoming a member of the Kingsguard. Utterly missed the implications of this until a bit too late to help either himself or his House.
• Embarrassing Nickname: The Brown Dragon, due to falling in the mud when getting defeated in a joust by Ser Glendon Flowers, who had just been heavily tortured. His supporters quickly abandon him after this.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: All the jousts he wins are due to his opponents either being Blackfyre supporters or being paid to take a fall, although he thought he was actually winning.
• Fearless Fool: He challenges Ser Glendon to a Trial by Combat rather than simply let the matters be and later Bloodraven himself. Pity that his valor isn't matched by his cunning or skill at arms.
• Harmless Villain: It's hard to imagine this guy as being an effective leader of a real rebellion. And he isn't; his own supporters have effectively kept him out of the loop as to their real plans. Not that this saves them from Bloodraven's scrutiny, nor Daemon himself from suffering the consequences of "his" rebellion.
• Honor Before Reason: When he learns Glendon Ball has been imprisoned and tortured for being a hindrance to the plot to crown him, he has Glendon freed to get to the bottom of it rather than take the pragmatic route from this. He also thinks that Bloodraven will favor him with single combat when it's clear he has absolutely no support.
• I Have Your Wife: He's the proverbial "wife" in this situation. After his plot is averted, Bloodraven takes him hostage instead of executing him along with his co-conspirators to prevent Bittersteel from crowning Haegon, the next in line in House Blackfyre.
• Inadequate Inheritor: According to The World of Ice & Fire, Bittersteel considered him one because of his personality and love for music. This also explains why he took no part in the conspiracy that would have led to the Second Blackfyre Rebellion and eventually did have Haegon crowned despite Bloodraven's attempt to avoid it. Bittersteel Had A Point, if maybe not for entirely the right reasons.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: His father Daemon I was a warrior without equal who earned the respect of pretty much every knight in the Realm. Daemon II, meanwhile, was a pathetic excuse of a warrior who couldn't even beat a badly-mangled man with his fingernails missing in a joust.
• The Madness Place: A very mild case, as he was just a little too sheltered and scatterbrained to do anything with his very obviously inherited penchant towards this family trait. What Daeron the Drunkard could have been with fewer IQ points and a more trusting disposition.
• The Millstone: This guy probably harmed the Blackfyre cause far more than anyone short of Bloodraven. The period immediately after the Great Spring Sickness was noted in-universe to be the most favorable opportunity possible to start another rebellion, with Baelor Breakspear dead, Maekar disgruntled with the Throne, Aerys I burying himself in books, most of the hostages keeping the Blackfyre loyalists in line dead and the Iron Islands rebelling. However, rather than letting Bittersteel and the Golden Company handle the matter, Daemon II went off on his own to start a rebellion without their approval, hedging everything on a supposed prophetic dream that he would hatch a dragon. When that plan failed miserably, not only did loads of Blackfyre loyalists he rallied to his cause die, but his capture also meant that Bittersteel couldn't crown someone else to start another rebellion for several years, squandering this precious window of opportunity in the process.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His "cover" identity of John the Fiddler. Despite claiming to be a hedge knight, he dresses in fine silk and gives orders to the lords around him. It's so obvious that Duncan, despite his repeatedly thinking himself "thick as a castle wall", immediately calls him a lord by his look.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: More than Gormon Peake, for certain. While he is skeptical at first when Duncan states that Peake framed Glendon Flowers, when Lord Peake attempts to have Duncan arrested, Daemon won't hear of it and instead decides to hazard his own body to find the truth.
• Secretly Wealthy: Averted. Dunk is immediately curious about the amount of wealth a "mere hedge knight" has in terms of blue and gold armour, a baggage train, servants, and the company of several lords. When one of the knights states he asks for no ransoms for those defeated, only their friendship, Duncan states it's generous, though Maynard Plumm says the generosity is an easy gesture when your purse is full of gold.
• Sissy Villain: On paper, yes. In practice... It's rather more complicated. Head of an antagonistic rebellion doing horrible things? Yes... ish (try "figurehead"). Swishy and artsy? Yes... ish (given his enthusiasm for amateur dramatics and music, the poor guy would happily drop tourneys for the call of the stage to become super-swishy, but this isn't actually a viable option for him). Gay? Certainly. Diabolical villain? Eh — not so such, no.
• Transparent Closet: Well, kind of. It's as plain as day he's gay, particularly as he keeps hitting on Dunk in increasingly embarrassing ways. But, he can't exactly go the fully obvious diva route, either, thanks to the Seven Kingdoms' prejudices. Having said that, he very clearly has a certain swishiness going on, no matter how he tries to downplay or disguise it: his closet may well have been made of Plexiglas.
• Upper-Class Twit: He doesn't come across as having had his feet all that firmly on the ground (see his idea of a great disguise, for starters). Well, until he fell into the mud. He was being used by practically everybody around him, particularly those he thought of as his supporters. And he didn't have a clue — there was plenty for him to go on if he'd had half a teaspoon of worldly cunning to work with.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: His was not the last Blackfyre rebellion, yet there is no record of his life after his imprisonment by Bloodraven nor do there seem to have been any attempts to bring him into the fold ever again. Given that the next Blackfyre Rebellion happens after eight years, it's most likely that Daemon died while a hostage.

King Haegon I Blackfyre

King Haegon Blackfyre, the First of His Name

Daemon Blackfyre's fourth son by Rohanne of Tyrosh. He and Bittersteel launched the Third Blackfyre Rebellion in 219 AC, but it ended in failure and cost him his life.

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• All There in the Manual: Most of the information on him comes from The World of Ice & Fire.
• The Ghost: Yet to make any kind of appearance in the Tales of Dunk and Egg besides a mere mention.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Attempted. He tried to surrender, but was killed through treacherous means.
• Rebel Leader: In the Third Blackfyre Rebellion.

Aenys Blackfyre

Aenys Blackfyre

The fifth of Daemon Blackfyre and Rohanne of Tyrosh's sons, he attempted to stake his claim to the Iron Throne during the Great Council of 233 AC that followed the death of King Maekar I. He ended up being killed by Bloodraven before he could even present his claim at the council.

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• Ambiguously Evil: We know very little about what he was like as a person- that he was willing to claim the throne peacefully indicates he wasn't anything like his brothers, but how good a ruler he would have been is unknown.
• All There in the Manual: All we know of him comes from The World of Ice & Fire.
• The Exile: Lived in Tyrosh with the rest of his family after their failed rebellions.
• Decapitation Presentation: Lord Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers showed his severed head to the Great Council of 233 AC to intimidate and warn any Blackfyre sympathizers at the gathering that under no circumstances would a Blackfyre's claim be considered.
• It's Personal: Bloodraven killing him had overtones of the hatred he carried against the Blackfyres.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: He is the only Blackfyre that tried to justify his claim through peaceful means and did not lead a rebellion. If his line of succession would have been considered, he would have been ahead of Aegon and Vaella (Aegon's niece through his brother Daeron). Bloodraven took care of that before he even pronounced a word.
  • He is also the only Blackfyre pretender that never declared himself King before coming back to Westeros.
• Meaningful Name: Like King Aenys I, he was committed to peaceful reconciliation in contrast with warhawk siblings- and his willingness to compromise got him killed.
• Off with His Head!: Bloodraven cut off his head after "capturing" him upon his arrival in King's Landing.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Bloodraven basically killed him for being the son of Daemon, not because he would present a sensible claim.
• The Usurper: Not, as with most of the Blackfyres, of the Targaryens, but of his nephew, Daemon, who being the son of his elder brother was by all rights the legal claimant to the Blackfyre line.

King Daemon III Blackfyre

King Daemon Blackfyre, the Third of His Name; r. 236

Grandson of Daemon I and son of Haegon I, Daemon III crossed the Narrow Sea in 236 AC and instigated the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion at Massey's Hook. He was killed by Ser Duncan the Tall at the Battle of Wendwater Bridge.

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• All There in the Manual: He's only mentioned in The World of Ice & Fire.
• Curbstomp Battle: The Battle of Wendwater Bridge, which broke the back of the rebellion and resulted in Daemon III's death.
• Rebel Leader: During the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion.

King Maelys I Blackfyre

King Maelys Blackfyre, the First of His Name; r. 259

The Monstrous

"Maelys thought that he had a claim to the Iron Throne thanks to his Targaryen blood. I made sure that all his blood claimed was the dirt around his corpse."

— Ser Barristan Selmy (Game of Thrones History & Lore season 5, "Robert's Rebellion")

The fifth and last Blackfyre king, Maelys was a grandson of Daemon I Blackfyre (possibly via his unnamed sixth son or seventh son) and one of the instigators of the War of the Ninepenny Kings, where he was slain by Ser Barristan Selmy. He was also a Captain-General of the Golden Company. Maelys was the last Blackfyre pretender and his demise marked the end of the direct (male) line of House Blackfyre.

See the Golden Company and Band of Nine pages also.

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• Ax-Crazy: Described as having a savage nature. Combined with his fearsome strength, he once killed a destrier with a single punch and ripped his cousin's head off with his bare hands. His distant ancestor Maegor would be so proud.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Killing a horse with one punch and then ripping off his cousin's head with his bare hands crosses the line into this.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: He had two heads and was monstrously strong. Maelys was the stereotypical ogre.
• Epic Flail: A depiction of his battle against Ser Barristan the Bold depicts him wielding a flail.
• Evil Cripple: Maelys' back was badly hunched and twisted as a result of absorbing his twin.
• Facial Horror: His absorbed twin's head slightly under his own.
• In-Series Nickname: Maelys the Monstrous, for the second head sprouting from his neck, that of the twin he absorbed while in the womb. Questionably canon material posits a second reason: he sacrificed his own son, Maenar, in the hope of performing blood magic.
• Klingon Promotion: Won command of the Golden Company by ripping his own cousin Daemon's head off with his bare hands.
• Last of His Kind: The last Blackfyre (at least on the male line).
• The Leader: Of the Golden Company and the Band of 9.
• Long-Dead Badass: Infamous for his strength. His and his twin's skull's are still kept by the Golden Company.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Doesn't exactly scream "cuddly", does it? He mainly got the monstrous label for supposedly being a kinslayer for the twin-absorption. Doubling down on that and killing his cousin, however, would have cemented it.
• Posthumous Character: Well and truly dead by the start of the main series. And, was thought to be the last of the Blackfyres by many in Westeros when he did peg it. After all, girls don't apparently count: note the conspicuous absence of daughters, nieces, or female cousins in this character page.
• Red Right Hand: The dead face of his absorbed twin was taken by many as proof of his monstrous nature. His actual behavior didn't really help to prove those rumors wrong.
• Villain Team-Up: Allied with eight other infamous outcasts and criminals to form the Band of 9.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Probably the most flat-out evil of the Blackfyres, and possessed of the house's trademark white hair. About as far from being a white-haired pretty boy as you could get, though.

Rohanne of Tyrosh

Daemon Blackfyre's spouse, a Tyroshi noblewoman who gave birth to Daemon's children.

For the Free City of Tyrosh entry, see here.

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• Arranged Marriage: She and Daemon were betrothed at a rather early age by Aegon IV and they were married when he was fourteen years old.
• Everyone Is Related: Invoked. She might have been related to the then current Archon of Tyrosh that bartered with Aegon IV her betrothal with Daemon. Other than that, she might just have been a noblewoman without relation to the Archon.
• The Ghost: Though her actions are not thoroughly explored, she remained in Westeros until the death of Daemon, upon which she understandably fled back to Tyrosh with Bittersteel and her remaining living children.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: She and Daemon had seven sons and some daughters.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her sons and other descendants prolonged civil unrest within both Westeros and Essos for decades. Without her children to rally around within Essos itself, the Golden Company would likely have folded after their first debacle. Or have taken a very different shape.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her ultimate fate after having returned to Tyrosh has not been revealed.
• Work Off the Debt: Because of Aegon IV's death, it was up to Daeron II to pay for their wedding. This is presumably one of his early attempts at kinship with Daemon.

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