An internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.
Notable Characters[]
King Viserys I Targaryen
Prince Daemon Targaryen
Princess/Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen
Ser Otto Hightower
Lord Corlys Velaryon
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen
Mysaria
Ser Criston Cole
Queen/Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower
Ser Harrold Westerling
Lord Larys Strong
Lord Jason Lannister
Ser Tyland Lannister
Prince Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon
Prince/King Aegon II Targaryen
Prince Aemond Targaryen
Princess/Queen Helaena Targaryen
Lady Baela Targaryen
Lady Rhaena Targaryen
Lord Lyonel Strong
Grand Maester Mellos
Lord Lyman Beesbury
Lord Hobert Hightower
Ser Laenor Velaryon
Lady Leena Valaryon
Ser Erryk Cargyll
Ser Arryk Cargyll
Ser Steffon Darklyn
Ser Lorent Marbrand
Ser Harwin Strong
Ser Vaemond Valaryon
Grand Maester Orwyle
Prince Lucerys “Luke” Valaryon
Lord Jasper Wylde
Talya
Lord Allun Caswell
Maester Gerardys
Queen Aemma Arryn
King Jaehaerys I Targaryen
Ser Ryam Redwyne
Lord Boremund Baratheon
Craghas Drahar
Ser Joffrey Lonmouth
Lady Rhea Royce
Ser Gerold Royce
Ser Qarl Correy
Prince Reggio Haratis
Dyana
Lord Borros Baratheon
Lord Bartimos Celtigar
Lord Simon Staunton
Plot Summary[]
Season 1[]
Season 1 begins approximately 200 years before the War of the Five Kings, and 100 years after Aegon's Conquest united the Seven Kingdoms. House Targaryen has reigned as the rulers of Westeros for five generations, and the number of dragons they possess has increased to more than ever before. At the end of the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, grandson of Aegon the Conqueror, a succession dispute arises between two of his grandchildren, which is resolved when the lords of Westeros assembled at the Great Council of 101 AC select Viserys I Targaryen to be the royal heir ahead of his cousin Rhaenys - even though she had a superior claim, and largely due to her gender. The story begins a few years later when old King Jaehaerys passes away and King Viserys I ascends the Iron Throne. Outwardly, the realm has enjoyed a golden age of peace and prosperity for seventy years, and the Targaryen dynasty is at the height of its power. Yet factions are starting to form within Viserys's court that threaten the stability of his reign.
Rhaenys and her husband Corlys Velaryon, the wealthiest man in Westeros, remain at the royal court despite being passed over. House Velaryon have long served as admirals of the royal fleet and still wield much strength at sea, and there are still some in the realm who at the Great Council wanted Rhaenys to be queen instead of Viserys. Meanwhile, Viserys's Hand of the King Otto Hightower seeks to expand his own family's power and influence over the royal court from within. As the rulers of Oldtown, the realm's second largest city, House Hightower wields a great deal of control over the leadership of the Faith of the Seven. Complicating matters is that while Viserys was named heir ahead of Rhaenys due to male preference, Viserys himself has yet to produce a male heir of his own. His only living child when he ascended the throne was his daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen - but according to the principle of male inheritance that put Viserys on the throne ahead of the Velaryons, his nearest male heir is his younger brother Daemon Targaryen, a dangerous and unpredictable rogue.
The peace of the realm is set on a knife's edge when not long into Viserys's reign, his wife Aemma Arryn dies in childbirth to a stillborn son. To avoid the risk of his brother making a play for the throne, Viserys controversially goes against the very inheritance principle that crowned him king, by officially naming his daughter Rhaenyra as the new royal heir. Both the Velaryons and Hightowers subsequently scramble to compete for Viserys's favor, trying to convince him to remarry to a daughter from one of their families: either Rhaenys's daughter Laena Velaryon or Otto's precocious daughter Alicent Hightower. Moving in between these competing factions, Viserys's brother Daemon pursues his own path to power.
Season 2[]
132 AC. King Viserys the Peaceful has passed in his sleep, leaving a succession crisis in his wake. In King's Landing, the Greens have consolidated power through the coronation of the king's firstborn son, King Aegon II Targaryen. In retaliation, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys's designated heir, has been crowned by her Blacks on her house's ancestral island of Dragonstone.
Queen Alicent Hightower's peace terms have been rejected. Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's uncle and husband, intends to form a foothold within the Riverlands at the castle of Harrenhal, while Lord Corlys Velaryon and his fleet blockade the Gullet with the aid of his wife, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, and her dragon, Meleys. It falls upon Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, to secure a stable rule for his grandson and liege.
The realm is divided. To remind the lords of Westeros of the oath they swore to her and her father two decades prior, Rhaenyra has sent her sons Princes Jacaerys and Lucerys Velaryon as envoys. Jacaerys is northward bound to treat with Lady Jeyne Arryn of the Eyrie and Lord Cregan Stark of Winterfell, while Lucerys's venture south to Storm's End has culminated in his death between the jaws of Vhagar, ridden by his uncle Prince Aemond Targaryen who will return home a kinslayer.
The war of quills and ravens is over. The Dance of the Dragons has begun.
