House TargaryenHouse Targaryen is a noble family of Valyrian descent that escaped the Doom. They lived for centuries on the island of Dragonstone until Aegon Targaryen and his sisters rode their dragons to the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. House Targaryen ruled as the Kings ofWesteros for nearly 300 years, until ousted in the War of the Usurper. Their seats were the capitol city of King's Landing and the island castle of Dragonstone. 
The Targaryens are known as dragonlords, and seem to be closer to dragons than other men are. Aegon I introduced dragons to Westeros when he conquered it, and dragons were kept and ridden by the Targaryens until t he last one perished in the reign of Aegon III Dragonbane.
The Targaryens kept dragons for much of their reign in Seven Kingdoms. To house them they built an immense domed structure in King's Landing called the Dragonpit. New dragons were bred from Aegon's original three: Vhagar, Meraxes, and the dreaded Balerion. However, violent deaths in battle and a growing infirmity in each following generation caused the family's stable to dwindle. The last Targaryen dragon was a deformed and sterile creature that died very young. It is not clearly understood what caused the last dragons to die out. A legend holds that Aegon III poisoned them, but Archmaester Marwyn suggested that the Maesters were somehow responsible. Others have also claimed that raising dragons in enclosed spaces, even the Dragonpit, was unnatural and stunted their growth. 
Early Dynasty and the Faith Militant UprisingDespite converting to the Faith, the Targaryens held themselves apart from the laws of gods and men, and continued to follow the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, which was a sin in the eyes of the Seven. Indeed, Aegon married both of his sisters. When Aegon died 37 years after his landing and was succeeded by his incest-born son and heir, Aenys I, local populations revolted in what is know as the Faith Militant uprising. Early Targaryen kings often appointed those of the blood royal to act as their Hand. Such was the case with with Aenys, who was served by his brutal half-brother and cousin, Prince Maegor. Maegor conducted the suppression of these revolts, and seized the throne for himself after Aenys's death, going on to earn the moniker "the Cruel" in his attempts to crush the rebellion. Construction of the Red Keep was finished during Maegor's reign. After his mysterious death in 48 AL he was succeeded by Aenys's son Jaehaerys the Conciliator, who disbanded the Faith Militant. His rule was long and wise. 
The Blackfyre Pretenders
Aegon IV kept many mistresses and sired several bastards by them. The oldest of them, by Princess Daena, had strong Targaryen features; he grew up to be a promising young knight and was granted Blackfyre, the Valyrian steel blade of The Conqueror. He became known as Daemon Blackfyre. Before his death in 184, Aegon IV legitimized all of his natural children, placing them in the succession, albeit behind his trueborn son, Daeron II. Nobles such as Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers (one of Aegon IV's Great Bastards) did not care for Daeron's bookish nature or the Dornish flavor of his court, and whispered that Daeron was not the son of Aegon IV, but of his brother Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, casting doubts over Daeron's right to rule. Finally, Daemon Blackfyre was bitter over the loss of Princess Daenerys, Daeron's sister whom he had promised to Prince Maron. For these reasons, Daemon and his supporters launched the First Blackfyre Rebellion against Daeron's rule. This was crushed by Daeron's sons Baelor Breakspear and Maekar and his bastard brother Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, Bittersteel's rival for the affections of their half-sister Shiera Seastar. Daemon was killed by Bloodraven in the Battle of the Redgrass Field, and Bittersteel driven into exile across the narrow sea, where he founded the Golden Company, a sellsword army bent on naming a Blackfyre son as King of Westeros. Prince Baelor was named his father's Hand as well as heir, but died in 209 in a Trial of Seven at the Ashford Tourney fighting opposite his brother Maekar for the honor of a hedge knight called Dunk. Maekar's son Aerion Brightflame was sent into exile after the trial, and Maekar allowed his son "Egg" to continue squiring for Dunk in order to teach him humility and honor. During Daeron's reign, the third major Targaryen palace was built at Summerhall, in the Dornish Marches. |
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Customs and TraitsHouse Targaryen sigil is a three-headed dragon breathing flames, red on black. The three-headed dragon represents Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya, Their house words are "Fire and Blood." Although the Targaryen kings took their seat at King's Landing, the place where Aegon and his army first landed in Westeros and made their first fort, Dragonstoneremained the traditional seat of the heir-apparent to the throne. House Targaryen historically followed the gods of Valyria. Sometime before the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryens abandoned the Valyrian gods and converted to the Faith of the Seven, the predominant religion in Westeros. However, they continued to follow the Valyrian practice of incestuous marriage, wedding brother to sister, cousin to cousin, and uncle to niece, holding themselves apart from and above the noble Westerosi families. The phrase "blood of the dragon" refers to what are considered typical Targaryen features: silvery-gold (or platinum) hair and violet eyes. Some Targaryens also have a high tolerance of heat, though they are by no means immune to fire. Another trait typical to Targaryens, and one that was passed on to the cadet house, House Blackfyre, was the ability to have premonition-like dreams. Aenar Targaryenwas a noble in Valyria before the Doom, whose maiden daughter had his visions written down and published in a book called Signs and Portents. Probably due to their incestuous practices, the Targaryens are prone to madness; King Jaehaerys II said that with the birth of a new Targaryen the gods tossed a coin to decide whether the child would be great or mad.
HistoryOrigins and ConquestsHouse Targaryen is one of the forty ancient noble houses of the Valyrian Freehold, a great empire spanning most of the eastern continent, known as Dragonlords who actually ruled the empire. It was not one of the most important of these families. The Targaryens were one of the few families to survive the Doom of their home which they escaped by departing for the westernmost outpost of Valyrian influence, the island of Dragonstone, off the east coast of Westeros, taking their five dragons with them, among them Balerion. They did so because Head of House Aenar Targaryen's daughter Daenys the Dreamer had visions about the Doom that would come over Valyria. Twelve years after Aenar Targaryen settled on Dragonstone, the Doom descended on Valyria, leading to the collapse of the Freehold. The Targaryens were the only dragonriders of Valyria to survive the Doom. Thereafter four of the dragons died under unknown circumstances, possibly due to infighting among the family, but two more were born from eggs, Vhagar and Meraxes. Following the Doom, there was pressure for the Targaryens to go east and ally themselves with Volantis, who attempted to restore the Freehold by conquering the rest of the Valyrian colonies to survive the Doom, now known as the Free Cities. However, the Targaryens remained on Dragonstone for another century until the young Aegon the Conqueror developed his ambitions toward Westeros, but not before Aegon flew to the Disputed Lands and joined an alliance to crush Volantene aspirations. Aegon aspired to unite the seven Westerosi kingdoms under one ruler, and he was determined to be that ruler. A hundred years after the Doom, Aegon set forth from Dragonstone with his sister/wives Rhaenys and Visenya, their dragons, and a small force, landing at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush and beginning the Wars of Conquest. During his campaigns, Aegon was anointed king by the High Septon in Oldtown, leading to the unification of the Seven Kingdoms under Tlargaryen rule from the Iron Throne, starting a dynasty that lasted nearly 300 years. The area where the Targaryens had begun their conquest became the site of their new capitol, King's Landing. Dragonstone was used as the seat of the heir to the throne. The region around these strongholds became known as the Crownlands, and several houses of the area (such as the Velaryons, Darklyns, and the lords of Crackclaw Point) were among the staunchest Targaryen loyalists. Another close ally was House Baratheon; Aegon had installed his bastard brother Orys Baratheon to rule the Stormlands. 
Death of the DragonsAfter his death in 103 AL, Jaehaerys was succeeded by his grandson Viserys I, who ruled well except in marriage. Viserys raised his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir, but his wishes were defied by the Lord Commander of his Kingsguard, Ser Criston the Kingmaker, who earned his epithet by crowning Aegon II, a son of a second marriage. In the resulting war of succession, called the Dance of the Dragons (129-131 AL), both of the monarchs perished, as did many lesser branches of House Targaryen, and most of their dragons. During the reign of Aegon III, the son of Rhaenyra who held the Iron Throne at the war's conclusion, the last dragon died, earning him the nickname "Dragonbane." The loss of their signature war mounts and the deaths of so many family members severely weakened the Targaryens' grip on the Seven Kingdoms.
Incorporating DorneSince resisting the conquest of Aegon, the Martell princes of Dorne had ruled their land as a sovereign realm. Upon assuming the throne in 157 AL, Aegon III's fourteen-year old son Daeron Idecided to end that. Despite his youth and lack of dragons, Daeron defeated the Dornishmen in a successful invasion. His rule of Dorne did not last, however, and he and 40,000 men died trying to defeat an uprising. Dead at eighteen without issue, the Young Dragon was succeeded by his brother Baelor the Blessed, who was in training to become a septon. One of Baelor's first acts was to make peace with Dorne by marrying his cousin Prince Daeron to Myriah Martell. Baelor is well-remembered by the smallfolk, but maesters and others learned in history recall his piety as his undoing. As his Hand, Baelor retained his uncle Viserys, who had also served Daeron. Viserys held the realm together while Daeron warred and Baelor prayed. During his reign, Baelor locked his three sisters in the "Maidenvault" of the Red Keep to avoid carnal thoughts. One, Daena the Defiant, carried on an affair with their cousin Aegon. When Baelor died childless as well in 171, his uncle took the throne as Viserys II. After a brief reign, Viserys was succeeded by his son Aegon, who reigned as Aegon IV and was called "the Unworthy". It was during the reign of Aegon's son Daeron II that Dorne finally joined the Targaryen empire, after Daeron's sister Daenerys, daughter of Aegon IV wed Prince Maron Martell.  |
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