Daemon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar II)

Daemon Targaryen is a prince of the Seven Kingdoms as a scion of royal blood. He is the fifth child and fourth son of King Rhaegar II Targaryen and his sister-wife, Queen Rhaenys. Of the royal princes, young Daemon is among the most willful, cunning, manipulative, and ambitious. Where another might wither in the shadow of the Dragon, he thrives within it, if only because in such darkness he can tend the many fractures within his carefully cultivated facade.

Appearance and Character
Prince Daemon Targaryen is a slight, elegant man with all the hallmarks of the Old Blood that runs fast and true through his veins. He was a beautiful baby, and this was a quality that he retained, and perhaps even curated, with age. His sharp features have none of the rigidity one might come to expect and are thus refined rather than harsh. Like so many of his forebears his blonde hair is cast in platinum, bright and luxuriant. The prince’s eyes, however, much like his elder brother Prince Aerion, are different than either of his parents. Rather than the dark purple of his father and light violet of his mother, Daemon’s eyes echo those of his grandfather, the lost Prince Aemon, and are a delicate, lilac hue.

While many of his brothers, and indeed his eldest sister, are most comfortable in armor with a sword strapped to their hips, Daemon has wholly rejected this aesthetic. He is a, at heart, a true scion of the royal court, preferring soft silks and other such decadent fabrics. A goodly portion of his allowance is allocated to such fashions, and indeed there have been times his expenditures in that regard has rivaled even those of his half-sister, Visenya Silvermoon. Thus, his wardrobe is diverse featuring fashions from King’s Landing, Oldtown, Lannisport, and even a handful of cities from across the Narrow Sea.

Facets of his wardrobe and his manner lend the prince to a most flamboyant image. Yet despite the ornament, and the ostentation, Daemon has an intrinsically subtle nature, and his flamboyant airs act as a sheath in which that dark, subtle frame of mind is left to nurture and grow. It is this very nature that makes him a man with a proclivity to make grand displays and gestures, be it for obfuscation, his own amusement, or the encapsulation of a statement that needs be made. This is notable when it came to the origins of Rhaenyra’s talons. So amused was dear Daemon by the observations of Grand Maester Godwyn, he commissioned a brooch for his sister in the shape of a dragon’s claw, which he presented to her before all the court on her nameday that same year.

Daemon has affection for his family, and fully embraces his identity as a prince with the blood of the Dragon in his veins. Nevertheless, he is also a quintessentially selfish person, whose current tenor of existence is not conducive to a purist form of service to the dynasty he is meant, in part, to represent. This quality, if it could be called such, is represented through the way he thinks, the way he pursues his goals, and even how he perceives himself. In all things, Prince Daemon’s ultimate barometer is attuned towards what will serve him.

His moods are many, and his appetites without surcease. Indeed, the young prince is also a man who can sometimes be given to demure in the face of pressures, desires, or even demands of decorum. Yet, that is not because he is a man easily pressed upon or dominated by the will of others when their imperatives are not in line with his own. At certain times and in certain places, he can be as rigid, and as stalwart as his grandmother, the Black Queen. This is apparent in his refusal to marry, or even entertain courtship of any kind.

They say when a member of House Targaryen is born the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it might land. Daemon exemplifies this adage, for madness and genius are well represented on either side of that coin. He is an intelligent, cunning man to be sure, with an eye for detail and a mind that is capable of pursing many a possibility. Yet, he is not immune to the afflictions that have sometimes assailed his lineage. He is given to violent swings in mood and demeanor. The severity and frequencies of such episodes vary, but needless to say the delicacy of Daemon’s mind ever hangs in the balance, no matter the sophistications of his plans.

Early Life
Prince Daemon Targaryen was born upon the island of Dragonstone during the Eighth Moon of 417 A.C., the fifth born child and fourth son of Rhaegar Targaryen, then Prince of Dragonstone, and his sister-wife, Rhaenys, whom at the time was haled as the Princess of Summerhall. The long-time Maester of Dragonstone, Godwyn, oversaw the birth, as he had done for almost all of Rhaegar’s children at the behest of regnal mother, Queen Visaera. The birthing of royal children had traditionally been a role fulfilled by the Grand Maester, but Abelar had never enjoyed the Queen’s confidence as had his predecessor, Selwyn. His mother, Rhaenys, bestowed his name upon him only a few short hours of his birth, confident that the fourth son to pass between her loins would be as healthy as all the rest.

Daemon was a beautiful babe, with a shock of startling blonde hair and eyes that harkened to his grandfather, Prince Aemon. He was small at the time of his birth, but Godwyn assured the royals that there was nothing to worry over. The cries associated with being brought into he world provided evidence of his health, for they were as robust and loud as any. As was ever his wont, Rhaegar took little part in the rearing of an infant, relegating that task to his wife and their respective households. In that first, most formative of years, Rhaenys devoted a great deal of time to the boy, but this interest faded when he began to walk, talk, and thus shorn himself of the most precarious year of infancy behind.

Like his brothers Aegon and Aerion, Daemon was not bestowed an egg upon his birth. His grandmother, the Black Queen, was quite exacting in the distribution of eggs, taking a longer view than even the Old King, Aenar, had done. It was his destiny, then, to prepare himself to one day assume his father’s dragon, Nightwing. When he aged enough to grasp the concept, it cultivated a certain kinship with his eldest brother, for like Aegon, a great aspect of his power would need await the death of their father, the king. Daemon was little effected by the death of his grandmother, whom had ruled and held the Seven Kingdoms within her thrall for more than thirteen years. He was too young to understand the magnitude of her passing, and what it might meant, not only for his family, but the realm. Young as he was he remained well outside the many plots, and schemes that were hatched in the shadow of her death. There was one shift, however, though in truth it was not so great. His parents had spared little time for the youngest of their sons, especially after the birth of his younger sister, Naerys. Yet, after their ascension, their presence in his daily life diminished further still.

What comfort he could not derive from his mother and father, he found from what might have been considered an unlikely source. Grand Maester Godwyn, the same maester that had served House Targaryen for decades, had been selected by the Conclave to sit upon the Small Council after the passing of Abelar. The aged scholar had always taken an interest in Daemon and was granted leave by the King to take charge of Daemon’s studies. It was part of his duties in the first place, to be sure, when the royal children were in residence at the Red Keep, yet his investment in the prince surpassed the duties of his chain. He kept a dutiful, watchful eye over Daemon, consulting with his caretakers and observing the dips and schisms within his moods. So, it was then, that Godwyn was the first to take note of a certain delicacy within his prince and was resolved that it would not conquer the boy as it had his uncles, and so many others of House Targaryen that had come before.

Juvenescence and Springtide
At Godwyn’s urging, Daemon’s elder sister, Rhaenyra, took a particular interest in Daemon’s day to day affairs. She was growing into womanhood and had a strict regiment she followed, but where their mother forewent her duties Rhaenyra picked them up. Like Godwyn, she had noted a certain volatility that could sometimes infect Daemon’s demeanor, and so thought that he might benefit from the self-imposed structure in which she had ever thrived. The difference within their ages and natural affinities did little to dissuade their blossoming relationship.

The two often engaged one another in games of cyvasse, an endeavor at which both excelled for different reasons. Rhaenyra was a tactical thinker by rote, and Daemon’s eye for detail and natural cunning allowed him to take measure of her moves, so as he might anticipate her advances upon the board. Like his brother, Prince Baelor, he took measure of Rhaenyra’s other areas of prowess, particularly those of the blade. He enjoyed lurking within the training grounds watching her overcome those she set herself against. It might not have inspired him to take up such pursuits for himself, but he came to appreciate the arts of war nonetheless.

His relationship with Rhaenyra naturally dampened the effects of Visenya’s charms, but in boyhood he did not resent the young woman that bore both the blood of the dragon and the leviathan within her veins. There were some instances, much like his observations of Rhaenyra and Aerion, that he partook of taking in her natural proclivity for the graces and niceties of the royal court. This wandering fascination was supplanted, however, for as Daemon grew older he took note of how Rhaegar and even his mother, Rhaenys, doted upon her. At that age he was a long way from dislike, but the tendrils of jealousy settled deep within his impressions of the girl they called Silvermoon. Daemon was among many who attended the festivities associated with the wedding of his brother and sister, and indeed he had been given a place of some honor at the feasts, no doubt at the future queen’s behest. He was a social creature, and thus thrived in such events. The prince did not begrudge the court its affectations, its pomp, and indeed reveled in the ornament of such affairs. After the wedding he was situated in an esteemed role when Aerion was named Prince of Summerhall, having been tasked by his mother with the keeping of the princely diadem that she placed upon his elder brother’s brow.

Daemon’s first bout of controversy occurred just after his twelfth nameday. Unlike his brothers, he been neither been taken on as page or squire. Rhaegar had always been a man to insist upon such pursuits, but in this he found opposition. The young prince was not silent in his complaints after being informed of the subject being raised during a meeting of the Small Council. He disliked the notion of service that came along with being a squire, even as a prince, and knightly undertakings were not to his liking.

In this his greatest ally was his uncle, Prince Aerys Velaryon, who was able to bend the ear of his elder siblings, and so dissuade the Small Council from pursuing it further. Aerys had never been forced to undergo the functions of a squire, for like Daemon his talents, his proclivities lie in an arena wholly outside the province of the sword.

Bereavement and Chagrin
Queen Rhaenys had, for years, been pursuing many of her own interests and sometimes found herself absent from court. Nevertheless, for reasons that Daemon never became aware of, there was a marked shift in the relationship between the queen and her youngest son. In 430 A.C. he even accompanied Rhaenys on a trip to Oldtown. This was his first foray so far south, for Daemon had only ever departed King’s Landing previously for brief spells in either Dragonstone or Summerhall. He found Oldtown to be a beautiful city of alabaster stone. He knew its history due to the tutelage of Grand Maester Godwyn, but he also had long been friendly with one of his father’s wards, the young Lord of Oldtown, Arthur Hightower. They were hosted by Arthur’s family as a matter of course, and during that time Daemon became acquainted with Arthur’s siblings, including Addam Hightower. Daemon was an ever-watchful boy, and so despite their different interests, he found Arthur’s younger brother to his taste.

Prince Daemon never knew what his mother was up to, and so found himself often in the company of the Hightowers and their ilk. H e enjoyed his time in the city, but he did not begrudge his departure when the time came for he and his mother to depart. Rather than return to King’s Landing, the royal entourage settled back into Summerhall. It had ever been his mother’s favored residence, as he and his siblings well knew. Shortly after their arrival there his mother fell ill, and then little more than a moon later, with his father at her side, perished.

Rhaenys’ passing deeply effected Daemon, and he found himself ill equipped to deal with so keen a loss. It was, perhaps, one of the most trying times of his life. He spiraled into a deep, brooding depression that held him in thrall for weeks on end. In the end, in part due to the support of his mentor and in part due to the whispers he began to take heed of around the court, he came through it.

Two unions awoke Daemon to the greater goings on within House Targaryen, both for reasons personal and otherwise. The first was his brother Aerion’s wedding to the Bloodstar’s daughter, Elyana Dayne. He was ever polite to her, for the sake of his brother, but he disliked her nature, for like Visenya, a deep sense of envy colored his impression of the Dornish woman from the start. The nature of this jealousy did not balk him, for all his faults, he never shied from the myriad desires that bubbled within. Despite the deeply personal reasons for his opposition to Lady Elyana, it was the second union that truly ignited a deep sense of disappointment and even outrage within the youngest of Rhaegar’s sons. Rhaenyra had yet to successfully become with child after nearly three years of marriage, and there were whispers within even the Small Council of the fear that she would not be able to provide sons for the succession. Like most, Daemon took it to be idle chatter, despite his suspicions of a budding affair between his brother and recently windowed half-sister, Visenya Silvermoon.

Young as he was, Daemon felt there was little he could do when the notion of seeing the two lovers wed became a realistic notion discussed within the court. Had his mother lived, he knew, such talk would have been quashed. For despite Rhaenys’ sometimes distance from stately affairs, her voice carried weight, and her influence would have been sufficient to protect the eldest of her daughters. Of this Daemon was convinced, no matter the favor and affection she had showed to Rhaegar’s natural born daughter. Daemon protested in private, and even conjured the bravery to confront his father, but to no avail. He was only mildly appeased when it became clear that it would be impossible to put Rhaenyra aside, for despite all the support given to Visenya, Rhaegar nor Aegon were willing to go quite so far.

As the date the two were to be wed approached, Daemon voiced a reluctance to attend. Even Aerion, whom had garnered increasing influence within his younger brother’s life, had been unable to sway him. Rather, it was Rhaenyra who finally prevailed upon the young prince’s better nature. Displeased as he may have been on her behalf, he could not be absent if even the most injured party of the entire ordeal meant to attend. Thus, he relented and with all the others attended the wedding officiated by his father’s Master of Laws, Septon Bryce.

Within the Ebony Tower
The second marriage of his brother, the Prince of Dragonstone, sent shock waves through the realm. There were many, of course, who accepted the decision of the powers that be within King’s Landing, but there were many that raised voices of dissent. Chief among these was that of the High Septon, known as the Gregarious One, whose authority in the matter had been usurped by the ambitious Septon Bryce. Visenya, however, had always proved a popular woman within the city, even after her wedding to the foreign Zalyne. The city, then, was as divided as the court upon the issue. Daemon was not immune from that division, but he never struggled to ascertain where his truest loyalties lie.

Well into 431 A.C., reports of troubles in Oldtown and the reformation of the Warsmiths made their way to King’s Landing. Rising tensions that were borne from the Great Synod of Lannisport and the Silver Wedding had ignited, and Daemon felt some contentment in that fact. Lauded as his half-sister was within King’s Landing, there were many others who scorned the union. Of course, Daemon’s opinion was forged by a different path, but amongst his social circle he often laid blame at the feet of the woman who had once been known as the “People’s Princess.”

As the conflict grew and the debates about his father’s response reached a pitch, Daemon lent a modicum of support to Rhaenyra’s arguments that the cancer that was Ser Duncan Hammer should be excised sooner rather than later. Grand Maester Godwyn tempered the level of his pupil’s involvement, and indeed the elder man’s own counsel was as muted. The Grand Maester’s tenor in the first year of the conflict struck Daemon as odd. Godwyn was a wise man, after all, but free in his counsel to the king. When he inquired as to the old man’s disposition he was given half-answers, but such was his respect, and indeed affection for Godwyn that he did not press it further.

As the Bleeding spread across the southron portion of his father’s realm, Daemon maintained some distance from the conflict. He was not present in the city during the Razing of the Red Temple, having been sent to Dragonstone for several moons at a time. He did not begrudge this distance, for young as he was, he was not yet one to entrench himself in the politics of court nor did the conflict spark any interest in the arts of the sword.

Even when House Targaryen’s hand was forced, unlike his brothers Daemon took no part in the fighting. Instead he remained between the Red Keep and Dragonstone, distant from the toils and tribulations of war.