Aenar to Aerion: What was their gameplan?

[DominusNovus]

There were 9 Targaryen Lords of Dragonstone after the Doom and before Aegon the Conqueror. What were they doing all this time, when they had 3-5 dragons? It seems reasonable that they would have done something, as the only dragonlords in the known world, but what?

It makes complete sense to me if the early generations, steeped in the traditions of Valyria, disdained the idea of conquering and ruling like monarchs, but is there a reason they didn’t involve themselves at all in the politics of Essos, until Aegon helped fight Volantis? And what did Gaemon do to be called ‘the Glorious?’

[Euron III Greyjoy]

If we where going to get an actual answer, I think we would've been told in Fire and Blood Book One, so really we can only speculate. Maybe they didn't have any interest in conquering, or maybe they where waiting for their dragons to get bigger and stronger. 

[Leo of House Cartel]

There is a line in TWOIAF that roughly states "Aegon The Dragon looked West, instead of East like his ancestors" - gotta wonder what Aenar, Gaemon and co were trying to see when they looked East.

I wonder if any of them ever tried using their dragons to invade Volantis - perhaps with the intent of getting behind the Black Walls and finding out some secrets/claiming some historical trinkets. 

We should give pause to the idea that some rash relative of Daenys and Gaemon actually flew to Valyria with the intent on either reclaiming the land, perhaps finding new dragon eggs, or even just to see what it was like, post Doom.

Also, considering the rather high death toll amongst pre-Conquest Targ lords, one could imagine some kind of infighting perhaps taking place, sort of like a proto-Dance.

That Balerion, Vhagar and Merxes were the only Targaryen dragons at the time of Aegon's Landing could be seen as odd, considering the Doom was some 100 years before hand; shouldn't there be more dragons birthed in that period? If the amount of dragons successfully hatched between the time of Aenys I and Aegon II's reigns is anything to go by, a century is ample time for new dragons to grow.

Unless the Targs before the Conquest had some rule about not wanting to hatch too many eggs - perhaps due to some superstition about too many dragons potentially causing another Doom like event - I'd assume that several eggs were hatched.

Most likely, there were dragons other than Meraxes and Vhagar born between the lives of Aenar and the Conqueror - one would assume that most of the 9 Lords of Dragonstone who preceded Aegon would have been bonded to one, as well as whatever kin they might have had who wanted a dragon of their own. 9 of the Lords died so one ponders if their dragons perhaps died with them; maybe due to infighting, disease, Valyrian vacations, etc.

As to Gaemon, I'd assume his "Glorious" handle would be derived from how he and Daenys ruled Dragonstone after their father. 

 

 

[Lord Varys]

Considering that all those Lords of Dragonstone ruled during the Century of Blood chances are very high that some of them fought with the Volantenes, others against them, and others still against everybody to increase their own sphere of influence. Dragonstone and Driftmark could have been at war with Tarth and Estermont, and Storm's End, Tyrosh and Myr and Pentos, perhaps even Braavos on occasion, fighting their own little wars within the larger wars of the era.

Lord Gaemon is likely not referred to as 'the Glorious' because of his good looks - FaB confirmed he was the greatest of the Targaryen Lords of Dragonstone. This does not really mean he has to be a great military mind or conqueror - he could just as well be a great politician and merchant - but it is pretty likely that he extended Targaryen influence to no small degree.

If George ever covers this era of Targaryen history it would be great if the Dragonstonians actually conquered some lands in Essos or the Narrow Sea for a time, only to lose it later under a weaker lord. They could have subdued Pentos or Myr early on in the Century of Blood, for instance, or they could have entered into a serious conflict with Lys and/or Tyrosh in the wake of the slain dragonlords there (who could have been allies or kin of the Targaryens).

Finally, there could have been (dragonless) Targaryens fighting as sellswords or adventurers in Essos - in service of the Norvoshi, Qohorik, or even the Sarnori or Qartheen.

Insofar as dragons are concerned - that Aenar had five dragons when he went to Dragonstone, and Aegon and his sisters apparently only three (although that's not proven - we have only three dragonriders at the time of the Conquest, not necessarily only three dragons on Dragonstone at that time) does not mean that Meraxes and Vhagar were the only dragons to hatch on Dragonstone during the Century of Blood. Could very well be that more dragons hatched and died in that period. We just don't know that yet.

[Leo of House Cartel]

@Lord Varys

Another thing to consider is that, between all the former Daughters of the Freehold, I'd imagine House Targaryen wasn't exactly lacking in foreign marriage offers during the Century of Blood. One can easily picture some Lyseni, Volantene or Pentoshi household salivating over the idea of a Targaryen betrothal - and the subsequent control over the last known dragons that such a match might potentially bring.

In further regards to the OP, I wonder just how homesick the Targaryens were for the Lands of Long Summer, and how religion/mysticism might have played a part in their lives for the next century.

The people of the Freehold were said to pay tribute to all deities, while fearing none, but the events of the Doom could have perhaps caused Aenar's family to think differently. Considering Daenys' prophetic dreams sound like they were pretty accurate, there's also a chance that the remaining dragonlords grew to put great emphasis on the various dark arts. I wonder if perhaps the family's displacement from their homelands might even have caused them to look to Valyrian gods like Balerion or Syrax when searching for answers.

The cause of The Doom itself would surely be an addictive rabbit hole for many Targaryens to go down. How many of Daenys and Gaemon's descendants might have spent many a long night pouring over dusty old Valyrian scrolls by candlelight, trying to work out the reason why their Homeland was destroyed in such a unanimous fashion?

Perhaps Daenys' dreams featured a Quaithe like guide, who helped reveal to the young Dragon the cruel nature of her ancestors, causing her to have a sort of "Fuck Valyria" type mindset. Perhaps Aelyx Targaryen was more of a "militant Vayrian", giving him a desire to enslave and go all Dr. Moreau on us. Baseless speculation, certainly, but it would be great to read more about the Targaryen's opinions on the Freehold/Doom in the century that followed.

 

[DominusNovus]

All good answers, perhaps another way to look at it wpuld be for us to eliminate possibilities of what they didn’t do.

For example, we can be pretty sure they didn’t launch any major wars of conquest in any direction, or we’d have heard about it in some of the material. Similarly, I think we can be pretty sure nobody launched any expeditions to Valyria, that also seems like something that would have been mentioned, given how many examples we’ve gotten of people going to Valyria. On the other hand, given that we just learned about Aerea, perhaps there are some secret histories.

[Lord Varys]

13 hours ago, Leo of House Cartel said:

@Lord Varys

Another thing to consider is that, between all the former Daughters of the Freehold, I'd imagine House Targaryen wasn't exactly lacking in foreign marriage offers during the Century of Blood. One can easily picture some Lyseni, Volantene or Pentoshi household salivating over the idea of a Targaryen betrothal - and the subsequent control over the last known dragons that such a match might potentially bring.

It is not unlikely that some of the Lords of Dragonstone were not married to sisters or other close but rather looked for a bride in one of the Free Cities. We also have a younger daughter of Gaemon the Glorious marrying a petty lord, so chances are that even in that early days some Targaryens may have intermarried with Westerosi nobility. I've long said that the Masseys may have blood ties to the Targaryens - and through Alarra Massey being the mother of Alyssa Velaryon this is confirmed (it is not difficult to imagine that some Targaryen/Velaryon married into the family before Alarra married Aethan Velaryon) - and there may be others like the Darklyns the early Targaryens would have wanted to establish closer ties with via marriage. They were merchant lords, after all, and Duskendale was the greatest harbor at the eastern shore of Westeros at the time.

Also, depending on the size of the Targaryen family in Aenar's day - he brought children, siblings, and kin to Dragonstone - it is also possible that some male and/or female line Targaryens ended up marrying into a family from the Free Cities and moving there. Chances are not that great that they would have taken a dragon with them, but even that's a possibility. Dragons are not immortal, after all, so any such dragons might have been dead by the time of the Conquest.

13 hours ago, Leo of House Cartel said:

In further regards to the OP, I wonder just how homesick the Targaryens were for the Lands of Long Summer, and how religion/mysticism might have played a part in their lives for the next century.

Until such a time we learn anything about their beliefs I'd go with the default assumption that most dragonlords were not especially religious or pious and content in their knowledge that they were superior to 'lesser men'.

Valyria does not seem to have been a place for superstition - at least not among the powerful and educated.

[Lord Varys]

7 hours ago, DominusNovus said:

All good answers, perhaps another way to look at it wpuld be for us to eliminate possibilities of what they didn’t do.

For example, we can be pretty sure they didn’t launch any major wars of conquest in any direction, or we’d have heard about it in some of the material. Similarly, I think we can be pretty sure nobody launched any expeditions to Valyria, that also seems like something that would have been mentioned, given how many examples we’ve gotten of people going to Valyria. On the other hand, given that we just learned about Aerea, perhaps there are some secret histories.

That would, at this point, be a faulty conclusion. We don't have a thorough account on the Century of Blood. All we have is the broad strokes revolving around the ambitions of the Volantenes. We have no idea what the other factions in the Valyrian influence sphere did, but we do know that the Century of Blood also saw the rise of Qarth, the downfall of the Sarnori, the expansion of the Dothraki, etc.

Little details like the Titan of Braavos last being attacked during the Century of Blood implies that more fighting was going on that just what we learned about the century in ADwD and TWoIaF.

And the Lords of Dragonstone may certainly have been involved in some of the fighting, with certain lords like Gaemon perhaps rising to great prominence in some military campaigns.

The idea that any Targaryen went to Valyria in those days is not very likely, although it would certainly be possible that a Targaryen dragonrider disappeared and people are speculating that he or she may have flown to Valyria never to return.

[Ser Uncle P]

I'd say their game plan was originally as simple as lie low and not let their dragons get killed, like the dragonlords in Lys and Tyrosh.

 

Or not get caught up in doomed trips to Valyria like Aurion did. 

 

 

[Endymion I Targaryen]

I believe they were divided between claiming Valyrian control in Essos (memories of Valyria were still fresh) and embracing their new Westeroshi identity. Probably they tried to bond with future crownlanders through marriage(Mootons,Darklyns,Velaryons,Celtigars,Masseys,etc) and claim the local trade roads.Slavery seems to be gradually left (in Aegon's time no Targaryen slaves seem to exist).I believe the downfall of Volantis persuaded Aegon that east was a lost cause for everyone and he finally turned west. 

[SerBronnsMullet]

My guess is they mourned over Valyria for a while, even though they expected the Doom in some capacity. They may have been involved in some of the Volantene wars, though you figure a major effort would have been mentioned. There's mentions of the Big Three Targ dragons being "bred for war" so who knows.

With Gaemon the Glorious specifically my guess is he solidified Targ control over Blackwater Bay, significantly developed Dragonstone, and brought in a lot of wealth the the dynasty.