Aegon V's sons & The Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

I don't know if that has already been discussed or not but I have a question regarding the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion (236 AC) and King Aegon V's sons.

Quote

The invaders landed on Massey's Hook, south of Blackwater Bay, but few rallied to their banners. King Aegon V himself rode out to meet them, with his three sons by his side.
TWOIAF, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V

Why would Aegon want take his three sons with him in battle ? They were quite young at the time: 12 to 16 years old for Duncan, 11 years old for Jaehaerys, 8 years old for Daeron.

I'm sure they didn't actually fight and stayed at a relative safe distance from combat. Was this just a publicity stunt/pro-Targaryen propaganda move from Aegon V ? Him riding with his sons after a victory over the Blackfyres.

[Black of Hair and Heart]

It was probably a means to show that the Targaryens were a unified front. Remember, the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion comes only three years after Egg was crowned in an apparently contentious Great Council that left a lot of people unhappy. While Maekar had been a strong king, it seems likely that his reign always had a dark cloud hanging over it because all four of his sons were unfit to rule in the eyes of many people. Daeron was a drunken coward, Aerion was a volatile psychopath, Aemon was a maester and Egg was considered half-a-peasant. Regardless of who took the crown after Maekar, there was going to be problems and uncertainty. 

By taking all three of his sons to war, Egg would have been showing the his sons could, at the very least, be counted on to stand by their father and each other as a united House Targaryen. They probably didn't see much fighting. Jaehaerys and Daeron would have only been squires at most. Duncan could have been a knight, but was probably also still a squire himself. 

Also, didnt the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion only consist of a single battle? Probably wasn't much chance for anyone to fight. 

[Megorova]

If Duncan was born in 220, then at the time of that Rebellion he could have been 16 years old - an adult man by the 7K's standarts (Jon Snow joined Night's Watch when he was a month or so short of turning 15. Daemon Blackfyre's twin-sons died with him on battlefield during the First Blackfyre Rebellion, when they were 12 years old; both of them in that war fought alongside with their father).

Concerning Prince Duncan's younger brothers - nearly all royal-born boys, starting from age 7, either became pages and cupbearers, or became squires. For example, Egg since age 7 to age 9 was serving at KL's court as a page (probably Bloodraven's or Maekar's, because at that time he was present at the gatherings of the Small Council).

Duncan the Tall became squire when he was 5 or 6 years old (that's according to his own misconception about how old he was at that time. In my opinion, the real year of his birth is 194, not 191-193 -> what is considered by the ASOIAF's Fandom to be the possible years of his birth).

Jaime Lannister became Lord Crakehall's squire, when he was 11 years old. Barristan Selmy was squiring for Lord Swann, since age 10. Willem and Martyn Lannisters (twin-sons of Kevan) aged 11-13, both were squires, both participated in the War of the Five Kings, and one of them was seized at the battlefield and then executed by Rickard Karstark.

Squires are weapon-bearers for the knights, so they are with them on the battlefields during war and other battles. Thus, obviously, it's a highly likely possibility that all three of Egg's sons (or at least Duncan) took active part in the fighting during that war. Their presense there wasn't just for show.

Probably one of the younger boys was Duncan's squire (Jaehaerys, because later he married out of love, same as his older brother - "followed in his footsteps", same as he was following Duncan, when he was squiring for him), and the other one was Egg's squire (Daeron, because in the past Egg was squiring for his older brother Daeron).

[Lord Varys]

23 hours ago, Thomaerys Velaryon said:

I don't know if that has already been discussed or not but I have a question regarding the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion (236 AC) and King Aegon V's sons.

Why would Aegon want take his three sons with him in battle ? They were quite young at the time: 12 to 16 years old for Duncan, 11 years old for Jaehaerys, 8 years old for Daeron.

I'm sure they didn't actually fight and stayed at a relative safe distance from combat. Was this just a publicity stunt/pro-Targaryen propaganda move from Aegon V ? Him riding with his sons after a victory over the Blackfyres.

I'd expect that Duncan was already old enough to be a knight or on the cusp of knighthood, Jaehaerys may have been his father's squire, and Daeron did not want to stay behind ... and may have already been a fierce little fighter, anyway.

It would have sent a symbolic message. And it wasn't exactly that far away from KL, anyway.

It isn't that unusual, one imagines, in light of what Ned has Bran witness at the age of seven. And we can expect that at least the younger boys (Daeron because of his age, and Jaehaerys because of his health) would have been kept away from the actual fighting, in camp, something like that. Although I certainly could see Daeron sneaking on the actual battlefield.

22 hours ago, Black of Hair and Heart said:

While Maekar had been a strong king, it seems likely that his reign always had a dark cloud hanging over it because all four of his sons were unfit to rule in the eyes of many people. Daeron was a drunken coward, Aerion was a volatile psychopath, Aemon was a maester and Egg was considered half-a-peasant. Regardless of who took the crown after Maekar, there was going to be problems and uncertainty.

I'm not sure Maekar's reign was troubled just because of the succession issue. That would have been resolved for early part of his reign, considering that we know that Daeron was the Heir Apparent and Prince of Dragonstone until his death. And while Daeron certainly is no impressive figure in 209 AC ... we have no clue how bad he was in the 220s nor how popular or unpopular he was with the lords.

He strikes me as the kind of figurehead/puppet king the powerful players at court would have preferred to Maekar - he could have been another Aerys I in the hands of (another ambitious) Bloodraven.

After Daeron's death we can expect that the people had doubts about the succession considering Aerion's madness and cruelty ... but he, too, apparently had friends and followers as early as 209 AC, so he may have not been that unpopular, either.

But then - we don't know how Maekar ruled on his succession after Daeron's death. Did he name Aerion Heir Apparent? Was Aerion ever Prince of Dragonstone? We have no idea. What we do know is that Maekar apparently didn't name an heir after Aerion's untimely death ... else there would have been no need for a Great Council. If the king had had an anointed heir, he would have been crowned king.

The bigger issue with Maekar's reign is likely Maekar's own popularity and reputation. The guy was a confirmed kinslayer, and chances are pretty good that people did exactly what Maekar predicted they would - blame everything going wrong during his reign specifically on him.

22 hours ago, Black of Hair and Heart said:

Also, didnt the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion only consist of a single battle? Probably wasn't much chance for anyone to fight. 

That it would only be a single battle was only determined by the outcome of that battle. If Egg had lost the battle and/or Daemon III Blackfyre had escaped, there could have been more battles.

[Arataniello]

I don't have an issue with his three sons accompanying Aegon V.  As others have pointed out, they are all of ages that would mean they were either young knights or acting as squires to others.