The Death of Kings by Varys – Game of Thrones: Histories and Lore

After so many battles and the death tolls you hear, its a wonder anybody is left to fight after centuries of war. Then again, it shouldn't surprise with how much you see the characters in bed. I wonder what the death to birth ratio in Westeros is?

I've seen all the episodes but i just bought the first book today.

Aegon the 2nd was kill by poison not his wounds

The Maesters tell us that Aegon came to Westeros with fire and blood, and hammered six kingdoms into one.

Fire he undoubtedly brought, as the Kings of the Rock, Reach and Iron Islands learned.

But blood has never been in short supply here, ever since the First Men carried a crown into Westeros.

This First King united his people against the Children of the Forest and is supposedly buried in the North, a victim of a war he started.

The first ruler of this land and the first to die on his throne.

But not nearly the last…

For thousands of years afterwards a thousand kings rose and fell, dying in their beds, in their battles, in their guards' and mistresses' arms.

The Age of Heroes sounds pretty, until you realise what makes a hero: killing the enemies of your king; and to a king there is no greater enemy than another king.

The Starks and Boltons, the Gardeners and Storm Kings, the Ironborn and… everyone else.

Even the mighty Targaryens were not immune from shortened reigns.

Aegon's own son, Maegor the Cruel, was killed by the very Iron Throne his father had forged, if you believe the tales.

If you don't, then perhaps "the Cruel" is not a wise name for a king to earn.

Daeron, First of His Name, tried to finish his ancestors' work and bring Dorne into the fold.

For his efforts, he lost sixty thousand men and his own life of eighteen years.

During the great Targaryen civil war known as "the Dance of the Dragons", a king and queen each vied for the throne, dividing their House and it's dragons against each other.

Eventually, the queen was fed to her rival's dragon while her son watched, and the victorious king soon died of his own wounds.

By the war's end, King's Landing was smashed, cities razed and sacked never to be rebuilt, and dragons had faded from this world.

Decades later, Aegon the Unworthy legitimized all of his bastards on his deathbed.

Inevitably, the greatest of these – Daemon Blackfyre – declared himself the rightful heir and ignited yet another war for the crown.

After much bloodshed, Daemon was killed by an alliance of his half-brothers on the Redgrass Field.

All the same, his descendants continued to threaten the Targaryens until half a century later, when Barristan the Bold slew Maelys the Monstrous on the Stepstones, extinguishing Daemon's line.

Given such an illustrious history, need we be so shocked by regicide?

A War of Five Kings can end only one way: with the death of four.

Yet even in times of peace, a wise ruler knows that when men bend the knee to a king, too often they rise holding daggers.

need we be so shocked by regicide??
what a line!!

many faced men by jaqen h'ghar plzzzzzzzzz

I love the crowns of the Kings, but I only can distinguish the Crown of the Winter Kings, The Crown of the Ironborn and what seems to be a Tyrell Crown? Although there was not Tyrell king so far

I’m pretty sure around 7 kings have died in the show so far, how interesting

Love these videos