Daemon Targaryen

Prince Daemon Targaryen was a member of House Targaryen, being a younger son of Prince Baelon Targaryen and a brother of King Viserys I Targaryen. Daemon was the second husband of Rhaenyra Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone, following Ser Laenor Velaryon.

Daemon was the most experienced warrior of his time and wielded the Valyrian steel blade Dark Sister. A dragonrider whose dragon was Caraxes, Daemon declared himself the King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea. During the Dance of the Dragons, he was a prominent supporter of his wife, Rhaenyra.

Much of Daemon's life was written about by Archmaester Gyldayn in The Rogue Prince, or, A King's Brother.

Appearance and Character
Daemon was described by Maester Yandel as dashing, daring, and dangerous, but mercurial and quick to take offense. Archmaester Gyldayn wrote that Daemon was ambitious, impetuous, and moody, as charming as he was hot-tempered.

Daemon was a renowned warrior skilled in the joust, hunting, and swordplay. He was unfaithful to his third wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen, taking Mysaria and possibly Nettles as his lovers.

Daemon made many friends in King's Landing, especially in Flea Bottom and among the gold cloaks, as well as in Pentos. However, he was intensely disliked by Ser Otto Hightower.

According to art for Fire & Blood and The World of Ice & Fire, Daemon had silver hair and wore plate armor. While Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing, he wore a gold cloak and a surcoat depicting the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen. He wielded Dark Sister, a Valyrian steel sword, and rode Caraxes.

Early life
Daemon was born as the second son of Prince Baelon Targaryen and his sister-wife, Princess Alyssa Targaryen, in 81 AC, during the reign of his grandfather, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. He had one older brother, Viserys, as well as one younger brother, Aegon, who died in infancy. Within a fortnight of Daemon's birth, Alyssa took the child flying on Meleys. Daemon was free spirited and adventurous in his youth.

Daemon was knighted at sixteen, and King Jaehaerys I Targaryen gave him Dark Sister.

In 97 AC, Daemon married Lady Rhea Royce, the heir to Runestone, but he disliked both her and the Vale of Arryn; Daemon referred to his wife as his "bronze bitch". During the Great Council of 101 AC, Daemon supported the claim of Prince Viserys, as it would make Daemon the heir after his brother. Daemon gathered a small army of sworn swords and men-at-arms when it was rumored that Lord Corlys Velaryon was readying a fleet to defend the rights of his son, Laenor Velaryon.

Early reign of Viserys I
Ser Criston Cole twice defeated Daemon in the tourney for King Viserys I's accession in 104 AC, besting him in first the melee and then the joust. Daemon asked his brother to set aside his marriage to Rhea Royce, but was refused. Daemon served briefly as master of coin from 103 AC until 104 AC and master of laws for six months after that. Governance bored Daemon, however, and the prince's demeanor made him a rival of the Hand of the King, Ser Otto Hightower, who could not stand Daemon's presence and had begged King Viserys to remove him from the small council.

Daemon was appointed Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing, a position he thrived in and maintained for two years, to Otto's regret, as, with two thousand men at his command, he waxed more powerful than ever.

Daemon inspired loyalty with many of the rank-and-file men of the City Watch, improving their armaments and equipment. He gave every man a golden cloak, which led to the guards becoming known as the gold cloaks. Crime fell sharply under Daemon's command, likely due to his love of inflicting harsh punishments on thieves and cutpurses.

Daemon developed a dark reputation in the stews and brothels in Flea Bottom, becoming familiar to every cutpurse, whore, and gambler. He became acquainted with a prostitute named Mysaria, known to her enemies as Misery. While Daemon called himself the "Prince of the City", he became known as "Lord Flea Bottom" among the residents of King's Landing.

Daemon considered himself his brother's heir as Viserys had no living sons, and he coveted the title Prince of Dragonstone, which the king refused to grant. Otto Hightower equally did not want Daemon to follow Viserys and proposed the idea that Viserys's daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, should be named heir. Viserys did not address the issue of inheritance, hoping a future son would settle the issue.

Viserys's first wife, Aemma Arryn, died birthing Baelon Targaryen, Viserys's second son, the first having died in the cradle. Baelon died a day after his birth, however. Daemon was observed in a brothel in the Street of Silk making drunken japes about the "heir for a day". When word of this reached the grieving Viserys, the enraged king had Rhaenyra declared heir and Princess of Dragonstone in response to his ungrateful brother's apathy. The furious Daemon resigned from the gold cloaks and flew with Mysaria on Caraxes to Dragonstone, and so was not present for Rhaenyra's ceremony in the Red Keep.

Living on Dragonstone, Daemon impregnated his lover, Mysaria. He wanted to present her with a dragon egg, but the angry Viserys demanded that Daemon return the egg and return to Rhea in the Vale. Daemon sent Mysaria to Lys, but Mysaria's ship sailed through a storm in the narrow sea and Mysaria lost the child. This hardened Daemon against his brother.

Conquest of the Stepstones
In 106 AC, Daemon and Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, allied together for a private war for the Stepstones, with Daemon desiring his own kingdom and Corlys wanting to rid the Stepstones of rule by the Triarchy. While Corlys provided the Velaryon fleet, Daemon flew on his dragon, Caraxes, and led an army of adventurers and second sons.

Daemon made many enemies from Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh, and he slew Craghas Drahar in 108 AC. After conquering all but two of the islands, Daemon declared himself King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea in 109 AC, being crowned by Corlys the Sea Snake. The Triarchy launched a massive fleet under Racallio Ryndoon to retake the isles, and Dorne joined the alliance against Daemon.

Return to Court
Bored with ruling his meager kingdom, Daemon returned to the capital of King's Landing in 111 AC during the tourney that gave the greens and the blacks their names. He reconciled with Viserys I Targaryen by offering him his Stepstones crown. Viserys I Targaryen welcomed his brother's return and Daemon was given a seat on the small council.

Neither age or exile had changed Daemon's nature, however. He took up again with old companions in the City Watch and returned to the brothels on the Street of Silk. Daemon was cold with Viserys's second wife, Queen Alicent Hightower, and her children, who had pushed him further down in the line of succession. Daemon spent hours in the company of his niece, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, praising her beauty, enthralling her with tales of his adventures, taking her hawking, and mocking her stepmother Alicent and her greens.

Daemon gave her books, pearls, silks, and a jade tiara once owned by the Empress of Leng. Daemon and Rhaenyra often flew to Dragonstone on their dragons, Caraxes and Syrax.

Six months after Daemon's return, the brothers fell out again, with Grand Maester Runciter referring to an unspecified quarrel and others claiming that Alicent wanted Daemon gone. Septon Eustace alleged that Daemon had seduced Rhaenyra, taking her maidenhood prior to her sixteenth name day, and that the two had been found by Ser Arryk Cargyll of the Kingsguard. Eustace's tale has Rhaenyra expressing her love for Daemon. The notorious Mushroom instead claimed that Daemon had been providing explicit lessons to the girl in how to seduce her champion, Ser Criston Cole of the Kingsguard, whom the girl was supposedly in love with. When Rhaenyra approached Criston, however, he spurned her. Lyonel Strong, Lord of Harrenhal, counseled the livid Viserys that Daemon should be executed for treason. Eustace, however, reminded the council about the taint of kinslaying, and Daemon was exiled instead. Daemon returned to Bloodstone in the Stepstones and resumed his struggle over his barren kingdom.

Second Marriage
Daemon's wife, Rhea Royce, died from falling from a horse in 115 AC. Daemon abandoned the Stepstones and flew to the Vale of Arryn to claim Runestone, which had been Rhea's seat, but he was refused by House Royce. Sent away from the Vale by Lady Jeyne Arryn, Daemon turned to Driftmark, where he laid eyes upon the enchanting Laena Velaryon, the daughter of his friend, Lord Corlys, and he asked the Sea Snake for her hand in marriage. Laena was already betrothed to the son of a late Sealord of Braavos, but Daemon killed the Braavosi with Dark Sister in a duel. While singers say Daemon fell in love with Laena at first sight, others state Daemon married into mighty House Velaryon to check his own descent from power, as he had been pushed far down the line of succession and made many enemies in his adventures.

Because the marriage had been without consent of King Viserys I Targaryen, Daemon and Laena left Westeros for Essos. Mushroom claims the pair went to the ruins of Valyria, but more reliable sources indicate they toured the Free Cities, visiting Pentos, Volantis, Qohor, and Norvos. They returned for some time to Pentos, where they learned that Laena was pregnant, causing their daughters Baela and Rhaena to be born there in 116 AC.

When the twins were half a year old, the family returned to Driftmark. Daemon wrote his brother begging leave to present his daughters to court to receive a royal blessing. The small council advised the king to refuse, but Viserys told Grand Maester Mellos, "Daemon is a father now. He will have changed."

Viserys's daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, was wed to Laena's brother, Ser Laenor Velaryon. While Rhaenrya disliked her stepmother, Queen Alicent Hightower, she became fond of Laena, and the two often flew together on their dragons. With the blessing of King Viserys, Rhaenyra betrothed her two eldest sons, Jacaerys and Lucerys Velaryon, to Baela and Rhaena.

Laena died in 120 AC, the Year of the Red Spring, trying to birth a son who died as well. Later that year, Laenor was killed in Spicetown by his companion, Ser Qarl Correy. According to Mushroom, it was Daemon who arranged the death of Laenor by paying Qarl to kill him. Lyonel Strong, Lord of Harrenhal, and his heir, Ser Harwin, died in a fire at Harrenhal in 120 AC. Since Harwin Breakbones was believed by some to have been the actual father of Rhaenyra's children with Laenor (Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey Velaryon), Septon Eustace counted Daemon as one of the possible suspects for the mysterious fire.

Third marriage
In 120 AC at the age of thirty-nine, Daemon married again, this time to his niece, Rhaenyra Targaryen, the twenty-three-year-old Princess of Dragonstone. This marriage was performed suddenly without the knowledge of King Viserys I Targaryen, and was scandalous since neither Laena nor Laenor Velaryon, Rhaenyra's previous husband, had been dead for six months.

Daemon and Rhaenyra had two sons together, Prince Aegon the Younger, born in 120 AC, and Prince Viserys, born in 122 AC.

In 126 AC, Rhaenyra urged the ill Lord Corlys Velaryon to name as his heir her second son, Lucerys Velaryon. When Corlys's nephew, Ser Vaemond Velaryon, objected and claimed that Rhaenyra's first three children had been fathered by Ser Harwin Strong, Rhaenyra had Vaemond seized by Daemon, beheaded, and then fed to Syrax.

The Dance of Dragons
The passing away of King Viserys I Targaryen in 129 AC led to the outbreak of the Dance of the Dragons. While Viserys had previously decreed Daemon's wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone, to be his heir, the greens kept the king's death a secret from Dragonstone. Ser Otto Hightower, the father of Queen Alicent Hightower, objected to the idea of Daemon as king consort, and Ser Criston Cole claimed that Rhaenyra and Daemon would turn the Red Keep into a brothel. Criston crowned Alicent's son, Aegon the Elder, as King Aegon II Targaryen.

Meanwhile on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Princess Visenya; Rhaenyra blamed the child's deathon the greens. During the meeting of the black council, Daemon advised that the blacks should court the Great Houses who had not yet announced their support for Aegon II. During Rhaenyra's rival coronation on Dragonstone, Daemon placed the crown of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, which had been smuggled from the capital by Ser Steffon Darklyn, on the head of his wife, proclaiming her queen and claiming himself Protector of the Realm.

The experienced Daemon led the assault on Harrenhal, capturing the ruined castle from its castellan, Ser Simon Strong, without conflict by landing Caraxes on top of Kingspyre Tower. Daemon's victory allowed the riverlands to rise up in support of Rhaenyra. Daemon later led the taking of Stone Hedge from the greens.

After hearing of the death of his stepson, Prince Lucerys Velaryon, at the hands of his nephew, Prince Aemond Targaryen, at Storm's End, Daemon, through his former mistress Mysaria, hired Blood and Cheese to infiltrate the Red Keep, and the two murdered Prince Jaehaerys, a son of Aegon II.

The enemies made by Daemon during his earlier adventures came back to haunt the blacks when Ser Otto Hightower, now the Hand of the King of Aegon II, recruited the Triarchy to send a fleet against them. The Battle of the Gullet broke the Velaryon blockade of Blackwater Bay and killed Daemon's stepson, Jacaerys.

Daemon abandoned Harrenhal when Aemond and Criston began marching on the great castle with a host of greens. Instead, Daemon flew Caraxes back to the capital and assisted Rhaenyra with the fall of King's Landing to the blacks. Daemon's lover, Mysaria, became mistress of whisperers in all but name. While Lord Corlys Velaryon suggested peace with their enemies and pardons for the greens, Rhaenyra and Daemon were more bellicose and vengeful.

Rhaenyra sent Daemon and Nettles on their dragons, Caraxes and Sheepstealer, to search the Trident for Aemond and Vhagar, who were burning the riverlands. Making Maidenpool their base, Daemon kept Nettles, a seventeen-year-old dragonseed, by his side at all times. Mushroom claimed that Daemon took Nettles into his bed as his lover. Maester Norren, on the other hand, wrote that Daemon treated the bastard girl as if she was his daughter, teaching her courtesies and giving her useful gifts.

Rhaenyra was shocked by the betrayals of two dragonseeds, Ser Hugh Hammer and Ser Ulf White, at the First Battle of Tumbleton, and Mysaria informed the queen that Nettles was sharing Daemon's bed. Rhaenyra sent word to Lord Manfryd Mooton, Daemon's host at Maidenpool, that Nettles should be killed. Manfryd was reluctant to act on the order, and when Norren showed the letter to Daemon, the prince replied, "A queen's words, a whore's work." Daemon thanked the maester for the warning, and a tearful Nettles was allowed to safely disappear on Sheepstealer the next morning. On the same day, Daemon publicly announced his departure for Harrenhal.

The arrival of Daemon on Caraxes sent squatters fleeing from Harrenhal, so the prince waited for Aemond in solitude. Each evening at dusk he slashed the castle's heart tree, a weirwood in the godswood. On the fourteenth day of Daemon's waiting, Aemond arrived on Vhagar with his paramour, Alys Rivers. While the two dragons grappled in the Battle Above the Gods Eye, Daemon leapt from his saddle and drove Dark Sister into Aemond's blind eye. Both dragons crashed into the Gods Eye, with Caraxes crawling to the shore before dying. The bodies of Aemond and Vhagar were discovered in the lake years later. Daemon's body was not found, but historians are convinced he died there as well.

Legacy
Since Daemon's body was never recovered from the Gods Eye, singers say that he lived to spend the rest of his days in secret with Nettles.

Daemon never achieved his ambition to sit on the Iron Throne, though his sons Aegon III and Viserys II eventually did. In 170 AC, Princess Daena Targaryen named her bastard son Daemon Waters after her grandfather.

The thirteen slashes made by Daemon on the weirwood of Harrenhal are said to bleed each spring.