King Aegon III

[The Lone Wolf 13]

I want to know what book to read that will give me the continuation of Aegon III reign? A Game Of Thrones seems to skip it but I thought that was supposed to be the first book in the series?  Basically what do I read to get the info that happens with the remaining targaryen descendants leading up to the events in "A game Of Thrones". 

[Potsk]

The World of Ice & Fire, though it's not a lot. You'll have to wait for Blood & Fire to get the full story.

[Alester Florent]

On 11/30/2022 at 12:26 PM, The Lone Wolf 13 said:

I want to know what book to read that will give me the continuation of Aegon III reign? A Game Of Thrones seems to skip it but I thought that was supposed to be the first book in the series?  Basically what do I read to get the info that happens with the remaining targaryen descendants leading up to the events in "A game Of Thrones". 

The World of Ice and Fire is the main source. There is more to be picked up in some of the later novels and short stories. In time there will be another background book detailing them. Some of them we really know very little about - or we know quite a bit about them personally but not much about heir reign. In the meantime though:

Aegon III: Following the end of his regency, seemingly largely uneventful reign. Last dragons died. Aegon looked into trying to restore them but failed.

Daeron I: Son of Aegon III. Military genius. Conquered Dorne but couldn't hold it. Assassinated by Dornish during a peace negotiation.

Baelor I: Son of Aegon III. Religious fanatic. Made peace with Dorne. Popular with smallfolk, considered by some historians to be a bad/weak king. Never married.

Viserys II: Brother of Aegon III. Served as Hand for his brother and nephews. Conventional view is that he was something of a wicked uncle, revisionist view (held by Tyrion) that he actually held the kingdom together. Didn't reign that long in his own right.

Aegon IV: Son of Viserys II. Known as "the Unworthy". Attempted to conquer Dorne with mechanical dragons, which was a disaster. Sired a lot of bastard sons and legitimised many of them on his deathbed, leading to a civil war on his death.

Daeron II: Only legitimate son of Aegon IV. Dogged by rumours of illegitimacy (suspected he was actually fathered by Aegon's brother Aemon). Brought Dorne into the realm peacefully. Put down a major rebellion, the Blackfyre Rebellion, led by his half-brothers Daemon Blackfyre and Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers; Daeron was supported by his other half-brother Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers. Late reign was peaceful and successful. Died of plague late in his reign along with many others including many family members.

Aerys I: Son of Daeron II. Came to power unexpectedly after the unfortunate deaths of his elder brother Baelor and his sons. Bookish. Kingdom pretty much managed by Bloodraven during this period. Put down the abortive Second Blackfyre Rebellion and the more formidable Third Blackfyre Rebellion, seeking to install Daemon's heirs.

Maekar I: Son of Daeron II. Warlike and no-nonsense man embarrassed by some of his sons, Daeron the Drunkard and Aerion Brightflame. Died in battle suppressing the Peake Uprising. Death caused a succession crisis leading to a Great Council.

Aegon V: Younger son of Maekar I. Known for his common touch, having squired for a hedge knight (causing suspicion among lords). Sent Bloodraven to the Wall. Made a number of reforms, the exact scope of which are unknown. Defeated the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. Apparently tried to bring back dragons in a fiery ritual at Summerhall, which killed him and most of his family.

Jaehaerys II: Only surviving son of Aegon V. Apparently a competent but short-reigning king. Won the War of the Ninepenny Kings, in which the last of the Blackfyre claimants was killed.

Aerys II: Generally effective early rule (credited to Tywin Lannister) deteriorating as time went on. Eventually called the Mad King. Overthrown and killed in Robert's Rebellion together with his eldest son Rhaegar and Rhaegar's children.

That brings us pretty much up to date for the start of A Game of Thrones.

[gatlin]

Given that WOIAF is written as if it were authored by a Maester as a gift to King Robert^HJoffrey^HTommen Baratheon, it's worth considering the relative amounts of detail given to characters, I think. The underhanded editing that went into the book is part of the story. Why would the Maesters have so precious little to say about the age in which dragons ceased to exist on Earth? Very shortly after a destructive and costly conflict involving dragons, proving them to be giant liabilities, it stands to reason that - all incentives considered - people would be stockpiling dragons if they could help it, and it just seems like the rich aristocrats with living dragons actively producing clutches could find a way to help it.
This is a specious argument, true, but then what do you want I'm on break.

It simply seems highly unlikely that dragons were done away with so thoroughly with so little to say about the effort.

Then again we have evidence that someone has been trying to extinguish the dragon in all its form for centuries ...

[Alester Florent]

Well, part of the problem is simply that very few dragons survived the Dance at all. We only know of two (excluding the Cannibal) - Morning and Sheepstealer - and Sheepstealer is never seen again, while Morning is very young. The Dragonpit and, presumably, the eggs in it, are destroyed. So there's a big population bottleneck.

A lot of expertise in hatching dragons is also lost: not only the royal family and their bloodline, which seems to be important, but the dragonkeepers too. 

And apart from anything else, Aegon III simply doesn't like dragons. That's fair enough. Dragons killed both his parents (one in front of him) and two of his brothers; a third brother also died on dragonback. His one experience of riding a dragon was terribly traumatic. So he's not investing any energy in restoring them until it's too late.

That's not to say that there definitely isn't a conspiracy to wipe the dragons out - there may well be - but the obvious explanations are sufficient so I don't think the lack of detail in AWoIaF is in itself suspicious.

[KingMaekarWasHere]

On 1/11/2023 at 9:52 AM, Alester Florent said:

The World of Ice and Fire is the main source. There is more to be picked up in some of the later novels and short stories. In time there will be another background book detailing them. Some of them we really know very little about - or we know quite a bit about them personally but not much about heir reign. In the meantime though:

Aegon III: Following the end of his regency, seemingly largely uneventful reign. Last dragons died. Aegon looked into trying to restore them but failed.

Daeron I: Son of Aegon III. Military genius. Conquered Dorne but couldn't hold it. Assassinated by Dornish during a peace negotiation.

Baelor I: Son of Aegon III. Religious fanatic. Made peace with Dorne. Popular with smallfolk, considered by some historians to be a bad/weak king. Never married.

Viserys II: Brother of Aegon III. Served as Hand for his brother and nephews. Conventional view is that he was something of a wicked uncle, revisionist view (held by Tyrion) that he actually held the kingdom together. Didn't reign that long in his own right.

Aegon IV: Son of Viserys II. Known as "the Unworthy". Attempted to conquer Dorne with mechanical dragons, which was a disaster. Sired a lot of bastard sons and legitimised many of them on his deathbed, leading to a civil war on his death.

Daeron II: Only legitimate son of Aegon IV. Dogged by rumours of illegitimacy (suspected he was actually fathered by Aegon's brother Aemon). Brought Dorne into the realm peacefully. Put down a major rebellion, the Blackfyre Rebellion, led by his half-brothers Daemon Blackfyre and Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers; Daeron was supported by his other half-brother Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers. Late reign was peaceful and successful. Died of plague late in his reign along with many others including many family members.

Aerys I: Son of Daeron II. Came to power unexpectedly after the unfortunate deaths of his elder brother Baelor and his sons. Bookish. Kingdom pretty much managed by Bloodraven during this period. Put down the abortive Second Blackfyre Rebellion and the more formidable Third Blackfyre Rebellion, seeking to install Daemon's heirs.

Maekar I: Son of Daeron II. Warlike and no-nonsense man embarrassed by some of his sons, Daeron the Drunkard and Aerion Brightflame. Died in battle suppressing the Peake Uprising. Death caused a succession crisis leading to a Great Council.

Aegon V: Younger son of Maekar I. Known for his common touch, having squired for a hedge knight (causing suspicion among lords). Sent Bloodraven to the Wall. Made a number of reforms, the exact scope of which are unknown. Defeated the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. Apparently tried to bring back dragons in a fiery ritual at Summerhall, which killed him and most of his family.

Jaehaerys II: Only surviving son of Aegon V. Apparently a competent but short-reigning king. Won the War of the Ninepenny Kings, in which the last of the Blackfyre claimants was killed.

Aerys II: Generally effective early rule (credited to Tywin Lannister) deteriorating as time went on. Eventually called the Mad King. Overthrown and killed in Robert's Rebellion together with his eldest son Rhaegar and Rhaegar's children.

That brings us pretty much up to date for the start of A Game of Thrones.

I'd like to think that the Mad King's rule will be included in Blood and Fire but something tells me that the book will end roughly around the events of Summerhall. It just makes sense that Aegon V's final tragedy and fall is how the second book will end. GRRM likely will not want to talk too much about Jaehaerys II's reign much either. Would probably give too much away before Winds is released. Also, keep in mind that Jaehaerys II didn't live long after his father and Aery's reign would have been a train wreck but for Tywin and others helping him. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by KingMaekarWasHere