History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHouseTargaryenAncestors

** There's also some comparison to be made with George IV of England; both were hedonistic womanizers who ended up incredibly fat due to over-indulgence, had relationships that their fathers disapproved of and broke up (Aegon with Megette, George with Maria Anne Fitzherbert, a Catholic whom he secretly married without his father's permission, making the marriage invalid) had vitriolic marriages (George ''despised'' his wife Caroline of Brunswick and even banned her from attending his coronation) and were regarded as the very worst kings of their respective nations. George was even described as "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist....There have been good and wise kings but not many of them...and this I believe to be one of the worst." And this was from someone who '''''liked''''' him.

* ReallyGetsAround: As long as they were female, Aegon went out to nail any female, whether they were highborn or common. It was said not even the decent women of the capital were safe and the Gold Cloaks were far too eager to "procure" women for him.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Martin describes him as the UsefulNotes/HenryVIII of Westeros. Others might notice a similarity to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt,_1st_Duke_of_Lancaster John of Gaunt]], too. He's practically the worst aspects of both put together, without the foresight of either. And his legitimized bastards cause a lot of trouble, rather like how those descended from Gaunt's bastards, the Tudors, ended up usurping rule of England.
** There's also some comparison to be made with George IV of England; both were hedonistic womanizers who ended up incredibly fat due to over-indulegence, had relationships that their fathers disapproved of and broke up (Aegon with Megette, George with Maria Anne Fitzherbert, a Catholic whom he secretly married without his father's permission, making the marriage invalid) had vitriolic marriages (George ''despised'' his wife Caroline of Brunswick and even banned her from attending his coronation) and were regarded as the very worst kings of their respective nations. George was even described as "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist....There have been good and wise kings but not many of them...and this I believe to be one of the worst." This from someone who '''''liked''''' him.

* LadyInWaiting: In addition to her ArrangedMarriage, it was decided that she would be shipped off to Storm's End in the years leading up to her marriage to Ormund to be the cup-bearer and companion of the Lady of Storm's End, his mother. On one hand, it would be a good way for Rhaelle to become familiar with the duties she would have as Lady of Storm's End, her future in-laws, and future household, and become acquainted with her betrothed (and hopefully, make the two [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage keen on the marriage]]). It would also no doubt meant as added insurance that there wouldn't be any elopement shenanigans from ''her'' before the time for the marriage came. On the other hand, if the notoriously proud and HotBlooded Baratheons still carried a grudge for their daughter and sister being insulted by the broken marriage pact, Princess Rhaelle [[ObnoxiousInLaws might have had a rough time of it]].

* AltarDiplomacy: She was married to the Baratheon heir after her brother Duncan broke off his engagement.
* ArrangedMarriage: To Ormund Baratheon.
* TheDutifulDaughter: The only one of her siblings to marry who she was actually betrothed to.
* FamousAncestor: The current Baratheon trace their royal line to her, and Robert Baratheon's claim to the crown was legally justified by the fact that she was his grandmother.
* LadyInWaiting: Initially to Lady Baratheon.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Her marriage made her grandmother to the three Baratheon boys (contrary to Renly's claim of "hundred years past" it was around three and a half decades before he was born) which made them cousins of the Targaryens. This gave them a claim to the Crown that allowed Robert to claim it decades later.

* LikesOlderWomen: His wife was seven years his senior. Although it should be noted that this was a political marriage done when he was 12 and a hostage, so it may be a downplayed case (then again they did stay together until she left back for Lys).

** And lastly, to Holy Roman Emperor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor Leopold II]], being the younger son of a female ruler who had to fight a war to assert her place on the throne and ended up succeeding his less capable elder brother -- though Viserys had to wait until his brothers sons ended up dying without heirs first. And despite their short reign as a result of their untimely deaths, both Leopold and Viserys came to be highly regarded for their competence as rulers.

* LikesOlderWomen: His wife was seven years his senior.

* BigStupidDoodooHead: In a pretty unsophisticated moment for such a smooth operator, he dubs Lord Butterwell "Lord Butter''butt''". And this is after telling the man he's going to tear down his castle.

* GenerationXerox: Shares several similarities to his paternal grandfather Viserys II. They both ran the Seven Kingdoms as Hand for years [[TheManBehindTheMan while their kings idled]], only to go down in history as {{Evil Chancellor}}s despite them being chiefly responsible for holding the realm together in times of strife. They were both reputed to be kinslayers, with Viserys being rumoured to have poisoned his nephew Baelor while Brynden killed his half-brother Daemon during the Blackfyre Rebellion, and that is not without taking into account the possibility that he orchestrated the death of many other Targaryens to pave the way for Egg to become king.

** Much like ''Blackfyre'', the Sword of Kings, the sword ''Dark Sister'' disappeared when Bloodraven went to the Wall

* GenerationXerox: Daenerys is usually compared to the Aegon I. And, not without cause: she is a conqueror who has three dragons and who rides the Black Dread of the current day. However, her instincts to help the downtrodden and save slaves by imposing reform, damn what the nobility say? In this, she takes more after Aegon V -- albeit, an Egg who successfully hatched dragons.

* TheAce: Bloodraven was the most important political figure during his time at King's Landing and most certainly the greatest Master of Spies to have ever served the Iron Throne. He was highly educated and cunning, as well as a formidable swordsman, archer, strategist and, secretly, a powerful sorcerer. He is often considered by the common folk to be more influential to the events at the time than the Kings he served, especially Aerys I, who recognised Brynden's superior acumen for statecraft. Hyperbole aside, he was rumoured to influence '''even the damn weather itself'''. On top of all that, he successfully won the most beautiful woman in the realm, his half-sister Shiera Seastar, [[NotGoodWithRejection to the eternal ire of their half-brother, Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers]].

* KavorkaMan: {{Downplayed}}, as Brynden was strikingly handsome, but he was also pale, gaunt, and minus an eye. Yet, he was able to court Shiera Seastar, renowned as the most eligible bachelorette in the Seven Kingdoms. Their half-brother Aegor, who was more conventionally attractive by most standards, could never understand what Shiera saw in Brynden.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We still have no clue about what happened to her. [[spoiler:And considering Bloodraven is sort of alive and well still, that's quite an important consideration.]]

* TheAce: Bloodraven was the most important political figure during his time at King's Landing and most certainly the greatest Master of Spies to have ever served the Iron Throne. He is more often than not mentioned by the common folk to be more influential to the events at the time than the Kings he served. Hyperbole aside, he was said to influence '''even the damn weather itself'''.

* AgeWithoutYouth: He was born during the rule of Aegon IV Targaryen, which means that [[spoiler: when Bran finds him, he is in his mid-120's and ''looks it''; he is only technically alive because of Children's magic fusing him with a tree]].

** Him [[BigStupidDooDooHead calling Butterwell "Butterbutt"]].

* UndyingLoyalty: His personal guard, the Raven's Teeth, were this to him. When Brynden was sent to the Wall by Aegon V, his men opt to join him in taking the black.

** It's also not revealed what precisely did he have against the Blackfyres and why was it so damn important to keep them away from the Iron Throne. At first it seemed to be plain and simple loyalty, but his actions against [[spoiler:Aenys Blackfyre]] border on the illogical and have touches of zealotry or even something more macabre.

** To the Swedish king [[UsefulNotes/Carolus Rex Charles XII]], a young but tactically brilliant monarch who ended up spending the majority of his reign away from his court fighting a war, a war that ended up killing them before they could sire an heir, which in turn caused a lot of trouble for his dynasty down the road. Unlike Charles, who was forced to fight a defensive war because his enemies thought his young age made him easy pickings, Daeron's war with the Dornish was purely an offensive.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His attempts to keep his sister Queen Daena in the Maidenvault backfired, as it led her to frequently escape and carry out an affair with their cousin, the future Aegon IV. Had Baelor [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland swallowed his misgivings to do the deed with her himself]], there likely would never have been a Daemon Blackfyre. (Then again, if Aegon IV hadn't given that boy his sword, there would only be Daemon Waters, one of many Targaryen bastards to contend with.)

* ArcherArchetype: His weirwood longbow and archery unit weren't just conversation pieces. He also comes with strong suggestions of being a ColdSniper with it, what with his propensity to carefully pick where, when and how to engage by throwing in an awful lot of field-prep and deliberate ignoring of social niceties into the mix. But, if you think any of this meant he had to be crap at close-combat... [[BowAndSwordInAccord Dark Sister would probably change your mind]].

* CassandraTruth: Her warnings about the Doom were this to the dragonlords of Valyria (save for her relatives).

[[caption-width-right:300:Top: ''"Lord Brynden at the Redgrass Field, wielding a Weirwood Longbow"'';\\Bottom: Personal coat of arms]]

* CainAndAbel: He was enemies with his half-brother (and {{Foil}}) Aegor Rivers, known as "Bittersteel", who also loved Shiera Seastar. [[FeudingFamilies On top of that, Bloodraven's mother was a Blackwood and Bittersteel's mother was a Bracken.]] (As you might be able to tell, Aegon IV did the realm no favors when picking his mistresses.) On the battle of the Redgrass Field, he and his archers rained down arrows on Daemon Blackfyre and his twin sons, succeeding in killing all three. This action earned Bloodraven the tag of "kinslayer" (Daemon being another of his bastard half-brothers, and the twins therefore his nephews).
** Bloodraven was ruthless and unsentimental when it came to engagements. He advised Aerys I to kill Bittersteel, his half-brother and Aerys's uncle, but the former refused. Years later, Bloodraven executed Daemon's son Aenys Blackfyre (his nephew) and put his head upon a pike on the Red Keep.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: He was loyal to the Targaryen cause during the Blackfyre Rebellion, despite being a bastard himself. However, his unusual looks and sinister aura meant that even his own supporters did not like him very much.
** This is especially notable in regards to his service as Hand of the King to Maekar; Maekar personally disliked Bloodraven, and was quite capable of ruling in comparison to his predecessor, yet still trusted him enough to have him serve as Hand.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Aegon V ("Egg") had him sent him to the Wall as part of a honor guard to accompany Maester Aemon [[spoiler:(a fate which he chose to avoid execution for his murder of Aenys Blackfyre mentioned above)]]. He eventually became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

* ShootTheDog: This seems to have practically been his life philosophy--coupled with prejudices against his appearance, that caused him to become ''very'' unpopular.

** [[spoiler:It's implied in the Dunk and Egg novella ''The Mystery Knight'' that a hedge knight calling himself Maynard Plumm (who is revealed as one of Bloodraven's spies) was actually Bloodraven himself using a glamour.]]
** It's revealed in ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' [[spoiler: that he and the Three Eyed Crow are one and the same]].
** The text seems also to suggest that he may also be fond of [[spoiler: warging Mormont's raven and hanging around Jon Snow. ''That'' would explain ''a lot'' of the raven's interactions with Jon Snow]].

-->''"From this day forth there would be but one king in Westeros."''

[[caption-width-right:350:]]

Son of Aegon I and Queen Visenya. Maegor served as Hand during the short reign of his half-brother Aenys. Had a total of six wives (Ceryse Hightower, Alys Harroway, Tyanna of the Tower, and the "Black Brides": Elinor Costayne, Jeyne Westerling and his niece Rhaena Targaryen). Though Aenys had three sons of his own, Maegor came to the throne ahead of his nephews. He put down the Faith Militant rebellion with much bloodshed which earned his InSeriesNickname "The Cruel". It was in his reign that construction of the Red Keep was completed. (The royal apartments are housed in the holdfast that continues to bear Maegor's name.) Died without (surviving) issue, supposedly killed by the blades of the Iron Throne. He was awarded Blackfyre by King Aenys and wore Aegon the Conqueror's crown. He was the first and only King from Visenya's line.
----

-->''"He had ruled for six-and-twenty years, reigning over the most prosperous era in the history of the Seven Kingdoms but seeding within it the disastrous decline of his house and the death of the last dragons."''
--->-- '''Maester Yandel'''

-->See [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfAegonII Aegon II's court page]]

-->See [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfRhaenyraI Rhaenyra I's court page]]

-->See [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfAegonIII Aegon III's court page]]

* {{Expy}}: Of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, in the regard that he was famous of unprecedented military success that was short-lived, like Caesar's campaign in Britain, but won him popularity nevertheless. He also wrote his own BeigeProse account of the war, [[Literature/CommentariesOnTheGallicWar which categorized the Dornishmen into three groups]].

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/498px_bloodraven.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Top: ''"Lord Brynden at the Redgrass Field, wielding a Weirwood Longbow"''; Bottom: Personal coat of arms]]
-->''"A Thousand Eyes, and One."''

-->''"Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and [[LoveRuinsTheRealm the Seven Kingdoms bled]]."''
--->-- '''Ser Barristan Selmy'''

-->See the [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireHouseBlackwood House Blackwood page]]

-->See [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven page]]

-->See the [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireEssosTheFreeCitiesBraavos Braavos page]]

-->"His Grace cares more for old scrolls and dusty prophecies than for lords and laws. He will not even bestir himself to sire an heir. Queen Aelinor prays daily at the Great Sept , beseeching the Mother Above to bless her with a child, yet she remains a maid. Aerys keeps his own apartments, and it is said he would sooner take a book to bed than any woman."
--->-- '''Septon Sefton Staunton'''

* LoveRuinsTheRealm: According to Ser Barristan Selmy (who was [[OldMaster around at the time]]), Egg married for love, and all three of his sons did the same. Duncan, Prince of Dragonflies, actually abdicated his status as heir to the throne to wed a commoner, Jenny of Oldstones. Unfortunately, the match Duncan spurned was one with the daughter of Lyonel "the Laughing Storm" Baratheon, who took this as a personal insult and rebelled against Aegon (though the two eventually reconciled). Fallout from this also supposedly led directly to the Tragedy at Summerhall.
** As per ''[[Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire The World of Ice & Fire]]'', Aegon V and his wife Betha Blackwood wanted to end the Targaryen dynastic incest and become [[GoingNative fully Westerosi]], while making major reforms to improve the lives of the smallfolk. To conciliate some of the high lords for taking their privileges away, Aegon V and his wife planned on marrying their older children to members of powerful Houses, which said children quickly abrogated by falling in love (one of his sons being gay) and refusing the arranged matches. He was too much of a softie to go full-Tywin on them.

-->''"The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown, and Westeros paid the price in corpses.''
--->-- '''Ser Barristan Selmy'''

* TheNicknamer: The reason why Barristan became "The Bold".

-->''"Tell me, what right did my brother Robert ever have to the Iron Throne? Oh, there was talk of the blood ties between Baratheon and Targaryen, of weddings a hundred years past, of second sons and elder daughters. No one but the maesters care about any of it."''
--->--'''Renly Baratheon'''

-->''"King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness were two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen was born, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land."''
--->--'''Ser Barristan Selmy'''

* {{Irony}}: Jaehaerys' quote seems profound at first, then you realize that he was a Targaryen who was neither insane or brilliant and you have to wonder if he was lacking in self-awareness.
** He also chose to wear the crown of his grandfather Maekar Targaryen, a capable WarriorPrince who became King, despite lacking all of his martial prowess.

* LifeWillKillYou: Aegon I was a peerless warrior, conqueror and politician who united the Seven Kingdoms into one and began a royal dynasty that lasted about 300 years. He ended up dying of a stroke at the age of 64.

* WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately: When compared to [[TheHedonist Aegon]] [[FatBastard the]] [[ReallyGetsAround Unworthy]], even Maegor's harshest critics will admit that he was, at the very least, a powerful warrior [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething who actually did stuff]] -- such as building the Red Keep, making major inroads in consolidating the Seven Kingdom's governmental power structures within the Crownlands and away from Oldtown, effectively weaponizing wildfire and drastically limiting the overt power of the Faith (albeit his methods were unnecessarily harsh) for quite a long time. In addition, by acting as an active HateSink, he ensured continued Targaryen succession by uniting the Realm under his nephew, Jaehaerys. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain How intentional that last one was]]... *big shrug*

* DoomedByCanon: His reign proves disastrous and he, Dunk and one of his sons die in a great fire.

* ChildOfTwoWorlds: As a child of Valyrian and First Men ancestry, where said relationships are allegedly a rarity in Westeros [[spoiler: And he's the one who shows how powerful a child of Valyrian and First Men heritage may turn out. He's in fact an immensely powerful [[{{Seers}} greenseer]] and skinchanger. One could wonder how it'd be if Targaryens ever mated with Starks, [[EpilepticTrees and it's a very good question]].]]

** [[EpilepticTrees The text seems also to suggest]] that he may also be fond of [[spoiler: warging Mormont's raven and hanging around Jon Snow. ''That'' would explain ''a lot'' of the raven's interactions with Jon Snow]].

* UnexpectedCharacter: [[spoiler: Became the Three Eyed Crow after being thought dead for half a century]].

* NotSoAboveItAll: Despite his sinister reputation, he's gets jealous whenever his half-sister/lover Shiera beds another man, something that she finds endearing.