But how much do we know about Rhaegar? Well, today I'm going to talk about EVVVVVERRRRRRYYYYYTHING that has to do with the Young Dragon. There's a lot to discuss, so this will most likely be in 2 parts to give us both a break, but I assure you it's all really good shit! So let's go!
Rhaegar was born in 259 AC (Westerosi timeline) outside a castle named Summerhall (located in the Stormlands near Griffin's Roost and Storm's End; where the Baratheons are from). King Aegon V had thrown a festival to celebrate the birth of his first grandson, by his own son Aerys II (the future Mad King) and Rhaella Targaryan. The day of Rhaegar's birth, a great fire broke out and burned down the castle.
Rhaegar is said to have been born with silver hair and purple eyes, and grew to be a handsome man. He's described as able, determined, dutiful, deliberate, and single minded, but also that he had a sadness about him all the time. Like he had been wounded deeply in a past life. It has also been said that Rhaegar was the kind of guy that was great at whatever he did. As a child, Rhaegar was an avid reader, devouring any book he could get his hands on. At 8 years of age, he traveled with his father, the King, from King's Landing to Lannisport after the death of Tytos Lannister (the Hand of the King). King Aerys would rule the 7 kingdoms from Lannisport for a year. During this time the Maesters of Lannisport were in awe of Rhaegar's intelligence.
While reading, Prince Rhaegar came upon the prophecy of "The Prince That Is Promised" that talks about the rebirth of Azor Ahai or the Last Hero (see my post about this prophecy!) Rhaegar becomes convinced that the prophecy is about him or his offspring. When King Aerys and Prince Rhaegar return from Lannisport, Rhaegar seeks out King's Landing Master at Arms, Ser Willem Darry and tells him, "I will require a sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior." And what a warrior he became!
As he grew, he met two men who would become his total bffs. Ser Arthur Dayne (the Sword of the Morning, known to be the greatest swordsmen in Westeros) and Jon Connington, Lord of Gryffin's Roost. Connington kind of has a bit of a man-crush on Rhaegar, but a so do a lot of people. Ser Jon Connington is also a name book readers will remember, as his devotion to Rhaegar leads him on quite a path.
Rhaegar was also a talented musician, who loved to play his harp and brought it with him wherever he went. He would play so beautifully that women everywhere would weep. Rhaegar had this knack for writing beautiful but incredibly sad songs.
So, this fuckin guy, not only was he good looking, really smart, a fierce warrior, AND A PRINCE. He was also a brooding musician! So like the ultimate cool guy, chicks everywhere fucking LOVED this dude. Sheesh, no wonder Robert Baratheon hated him. The thing is though, he didn't seem to create any jealous or malicious feelings from anyone who met him. Obvisouly that would change later, but for the most part, Rhaegar was looked at as really great guy.
When Rhaegar was 19, his parents (after years of trouble) finally had another son. Viserys, aka the Last Dragon aka the Begger King, the last male Targaryan who was crowned with molten gold by Khal Drogo way back in book 1/season 1. In honor of Viserys' birth, Tywin Lannister (the new Hand of the King) held a tournament at Lannisport. There he attempted to betroth his daughter Cersei to Rhaegar, but King Aerys refused. Later, Cersei and her uncle Kevyn Lannister would say that Robert's Rebellion would never had happened if Aerys had agreed to the betrothal.
As for the actual tournament at Lannisport, Rhaegar entered and was, by far, the most popular participant. His father, King Aerys, openly cheered for him along with the rest of the crowd. He would ultimately lose to his good friend Arthur Dayne (he'd later return the beating to Ser Arthur at a future tourney, breaking 12 lances on Dayne). Despite losing, Rhaegar was offered two young men to squire for him. After they grew up, Rhaegar knighted them, and they would remain close for their remaing years. This shows how Rhaegar inspires loyalty. He was beloved by the common folk, who would soon look to him as their future king.
At another tournament, this time held in Duskendale (located in the Crownlands not far from King's Landing), the paranoia and madness of King Aerys began to show to the public. Aerys would begin to think Rhaegar was plotting against him. The Mad King didn't even trust Rhaegar to find his own bride, and showed Rhaegar how little Aerys trusted him by sending Steffon Baratheon to Essos to find a bride for him. Steffon would fail, but would also perish at sea on his return trip, but Aerys' paranoia was so strong that he believed Rhaegar had sabotaged his ship; this led to an estrangement between father and son.
In 279 AC, Rhaegar married Elia Martell of Dorne. In the books, characters say that Rhaegar loved his wife and was "quite fond of her". They were married at the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, but King Aerys refused to attend in fear of an attempt on his life. Prince Viserys was also restricted from attending. Soon after they were married, Rhaegar and Elia moved to Dragonstone, probably to put some space between himself and his crazy dad. However, this move would sprout rumors that Rhaegar was plotting to seize the Iron Throne for himself.
A few years later, Elia gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Rhaenys. Elia was bedridden for a year after, so while she healed Rhaegar took the new baby to court. His mother, Queen Rhaella embraced the baby, overjoyed to hold her first grandchild; while King Aerys refused to touch her, saying that the baby, "smelled Dornish". Openly insulting his son's first born child, further deepening the tension between Rhaegar and Aerys. And so the more loved and respected by the people Rhaegar got, the crazier Aerys became!
In 281 AC, came the great Tournament of Harrenhall. Holy shit are there a lot of things to talk about here! So much that I'm going to come back to it later! The tourney was hosted by Lord Walter Whent, whom offered HUGE prizes for the winner to make particiapation as appealing and as grand as possible. All the great houses of Westeros, along with the smaller ones, attended. Some people speculate that Lord Whent couldn't afford any of the prizes he offered, and was actually secretly funded by Rhaegar. Possibly done to entice all the great lords to attend so then he could call a secret council and discuss changes to the 7 Kingdoms.
However, despite his paranoia of assassination attempts, Aerys attended the tournament. Figuring that no one could conspire against him, if he was there and his people were all around.
The tournament lasted for seven days, over those days Rhaegar would defeat every knight he faced, including four King's Guards. One of which was Barristen Selmy, who was known as the best lance in Westeros, and Rhaegar UNHORSED HIM to win the tournament! This was much different than the tournament at Lannisport, when everyone including his father, were cheering for him. This time, Aerys did not cheer, he was terrified of what he was seeing. Varys, Aerys' Master of Whispers, had told Aerys that Rhaegar competed to in order to gain favor from the common people. These fears grew even more when Rhaegar passed over his wife Elia, and named Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love & Beauty and placed a crown made of Blue Winter Roses in her lap with the tip of his lance. This caused a bit of an uproar amongst the Stark men, with Brandon needing to be held back by Ned and Benjen all because they felt dishonored. Lyanna was betrothed to Robert Baratheon already, who was also there. He just laughed and said something about how Rhaegar had gotten it right, but everyone there said they could see the hate bubbling behind his eyes.
Not long after the tournament of Harrenhall, Rhaegar and Elia had their second child, a son Rhaegar named Aegon. Just like the birth of her last child, Elia had problems and almost died. Because of this, Elia was unable to have any more children. The night Aegon was born, a red comet appeared in the sky, further convincing Rhaegar that his child was the Prince That Was Promised.
At this point, it's believed that Rhaegar has told Elia about the prophecy, saying "the dragon has 3 heads". It is possible that Rhaegar believed he needed one more child to complete the prophecy. He decided to take some of his friends and journey into the Riverlands (where the Twins and Riverrun are). Here is where the tales of him kidnapping Lyanna Stark start. No one knows what actually happened here, but I think she met him outside Harrenhall and they rode off together (I'll get more into this later). These events would lead to Robert's Rebellion and the fall of the Targaryan Dynasty.
Ned's father Rickard and oldest brother Brandon Stark along with a handful of men rode to King's Landing to demand Rhaegar return Lyanna to them. Aerys refused and pronounced the traitors to the crown and sentenced them to death. He then burned them all alive.
The news hit the North and the civil war began. Led by Robert Baratheon, the Starks, Tullys, and Arryns along with all of their bannermen, rode south to war. Rhaegar returned to King's Landing and pleaded with his father to ask Tywin Lannister for help. Fearing Tywin, Aerys refused. Rhaegar then built an army of Targaryan men and the houses of Dorne, and began marching North.
Before he left, Rhaegar was approached by a young Jamie Lannister, still new to the King's Guard. Jamie pleaded with Rhaegar to keep a different King's Guard at the Red Keep to protect the King, and to take Jamie with him. Rhaegar refused saying, "My royal sire fears your father more than he does Robert. I dare not take that crutch from him at this hour."
The Robert and Rhaegar's forces met at the Trident (in the Riverlands) where the two would come face to face. Robert wore an antlered helm, a shield bearing the Baratheon Stag sigil, and carried his mighty warhammer, while Rhaegar wore black armor with the Targaryan 3 headed dragon sigil blazoned on his chest in red rubies.
The battle was fierce, but in the end Robert's hammer struck a tremendous blow, scattering the rubies from Rhaegar's armor and mortally wounding the prince. Rhaegar died with a woman's name on his lips. I believe that name was "Lyanna". After his death, and because of the scattered rubies, the spot where Rhaegar fell came to be known as Ruby Ford.
When word of Rhaegar's death reached Aerys, he sent his wife (pregnant with Daenarys) to Dragonstone. He also decided to Elia and her children, Rhaenys and Aegon, in King's Landing in order to keep the allegiance with Dorne. A decision that leads directly to their deaths, as the forces of Tywin Lannister arrive at the gates of King's Landing. We all know this part right? Jamie convinces Aerys to open the gates, yadda yadda yadda, the king is dead and King's Landing is sacked. Tywin orders the deaths of Elia and her children by Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch. Their bodies are then presented at the feet of the new King Robert in an offer of fealty. Robert didn't see dead children, only dragonspawn.
PHEW! That's a lot huh? Cool shit though right? So, that's only the first part. There's a whole mess of stuff about Lyanna Stark and the tournament of Harrenhall I want to talk about, but I'm going to take a break and post that stuff seperately. Until then, here are a couple of things to consider:
Events in the books say that baby Aegon survived. It's possible that Varys bought a child from a man in Flea Bottom (the poor section of King's Landing) who's mother died in child birth, for a bottle of Arbor Gold. The story goes that the man already had 4 children, but had never had Arbor Gold so the trade worked out for him. Anyway, Varys made the switch before the sacking of the capital and the child went on to be raised in secret. This could be true, in the books there's a whole story line following this, but there's another prophecy suggesting that this Aegon is the "mummer's dragon", meaning he's a false Targaryan.
Also consider this: People think Rhaegar took Lyanna for various reasons. Cersei thinks it was because he didn't actually love Elia. Robert thought that Rhaegar was mad like his father and kidnapped and raped Lyanna dozens of times. That seems to be the general consensus amoungst the current citizens of Westeros. But if you believe Daenarys (and me!) then you believe Rhaegar and Lyanna were in love and ran off to be together. I will get more into THAT in part 2! Stay tuned!
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