A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin and Bantam Books really want to make sure you read Martin’s new book Fire & Blood, a history of the Targaryen dynasty covering everything from Aegon’s conquest of Westeros through the Targaryen civil war known as The Dance of Dragons. The book comes out on November 20, and Bantam has been releases excerpts, including one all about the birth of the Kingsguard. Now, Entertainment Weekly brings us a meaty passage about the thrilling Battle for King’s Landing, during the Dance of Dragons.
At this point in the Dance, King’s Landing is held by Queen Alicent, ruling in the name of her son Aegon II, who has been gravely wounded in the conflict. In a sneak attack, Aegon’s older half sister Queen Rhaenyra seizes King’s Landing while the majority of his forces are away.
High above the city [Rhaenyra] and her prince consort came together, circling over Aegon’s High Hill.
The sight of them incited terror in the streets of the city below, for the smallfolk were not slow to realize that the attack they had dreaded was at last at hand.
Not unlike what happened to poor Ned Stark, Queen Alicent is betrayed by the Gold Cloaks when the attack begins.
Queen Alicent’s riders got no farther than the gates, where more gold cloaks took them into custody. Unbeknownst to Her Grace, the seven captains commanding the gates, chosen for their loyalty to King Aegon, had been imprisoned or murdered the moment Caraxes appeared in the sky above the Red Keep . . . for the rank and file of the City Watch still loved Daemon Targaryen, the Prince of the City who had commanded them of old.
After a bloody but brief conflict, Queen Rhaenyra declares victory and holds court from the Iron Throne. But did she sit the throne or did it sit her?
Septon Eustace tells us that the ceremony went on all through that night. It was well past dawn when Rhaenyra Targaryen rose and made her descent. “And as her lord husband Prince Daemon escorted her from the hall, cuts were seen upon Her Grace’s legs and the palm of her left hand,” wrote Eustace. “Drops of blood fell to the floor as she went past, and wise men looked at one another, though none dared speak the truth aloud: the Iron Throne had spurned her, and her days upon it would be few.”
It’d be great to think that the Iron Throne expelled unfit rulers, but then how do you explain Joffrey?
You can read the rest of the excerpt here.
Martin is also getting the word out with a series of videos about notable Targaryens, and their dragons. Below, he talks about Balerion the Black Dread and his most famous rider, Aegon the Conqueror:
“[H]e’s gigantic, and old, and difficult to master or tame,” Martin says of Balerion. “And after Aegon’s death, various other riders rode or attempted to ride Balerion, some more happily than others, but he is certainly a legend among the dragons of the Targaryen dynasty.” He’s not a dragon you want to mess with. Interestingly, Martin says Balerion is the only dragon to survive Aegon’s Conquest, although we know Vhagar didn’t die until the Dance of Dragons. But who can remember all this stuff?
Martin also had some interesting things to say about Aegon, especially this bit:
There is a lot of speculation that in some sense [Aegon] saw what was coming 300 years later and wanted to unify the Seven Kingdoms to be better prepared for the threat he eventually saw coming from the North, the threat that we’re dealing with in A Song of Ice and Fire.
Aegon uniting the Seven Kingdoms in a farsighted effort to thwart the White Walkers…it’s an interesting idea, and some Targaryens have been known to have the gift of prophesy. It’s purportedly the reason they fled Valyria in the first place, after Daenys the Dreamer had a vision of the Doom 12 years before it occurred.
Might we find out more about Aegon’s true intentions? Fire & Blood seems a good place to start.
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