Westeros Notorious Rulers and Families

Aegon II Targaryen

Aegon Of House Targaryen, Second Of His Name, King Of The Andals, The Rhoynar, And The First Men, Lord Of The Seven Kingdoms, And Proctor Of The Realm. King Aegon II was also known as Aegon the Elder, and Aegon the Usurper he was the firstborn son of Viserys and Alicent Hightower in 107 AC. King Aegon II was known to have the dragon Sunfyre, he was Sunfyre's first and only dragon rider. King Aegon II married his sister Helaenna Targaryen, and together they had three children, Jaehaerys Targaryen, Jaehaera Targaryen, and Maelor Targaryen King Aegon II was poisoned at age 24 in the year 131 AC.

Youth: Aegon was born in 106 AC to King Viserys I Targaryen and his second wife, Queen Alicent Hightower. Aegon had three older half-siblings: two brothers who had died in infancy, and a sister, Rhaenyra, who had officially been appointed as Viserys's heir in late 105 AC, with hundreds of lords and landed knights having done obeisance to her and having sworn sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Aegon was named by his mother after Aegon the Conqueror. He would have three younger siblings: two brothers, Aemond and Daeron, and a sister, Helaena. Although King Viserys now had three sons, he refused to alter the succession and kept Rhaenyra as his heir, a decision he left in his will. Prince Daemon Targaryen, the king's younger brother, was notably cool towards Aegon and Aemond, as their births had pushed Daemon further down the line of succession.

Aegon's mother, Queen Alicent, did not agree with her husband's decision to name Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne over Aegon. When her father, Ser Otto Hightower, continually encouraged Viserys to name Aegon his heir, he was stripped of his office as Hand of the King. When attempts to persuade the king to do otherwise failed, Alicent attempted to convince her husband to have Rhaenyra and Aegon marry. Viserys did not agree, as the two siblings were ten years apart in age, and had never gotten along. King Viserys knew that Alicent only proposed the match to get Aegon on the throne, and thus married Rhaenyra to Ser Laenor Velaryon, heir to Driftmark, instead.

Tensions at Court: Relations at court began to escalate as lords began to side with either Alicent or Rhaenyra, with many favoring the laws established at the Great Council of 101 AC, declaring that the Iron Throne could not pass to a woman. The two parties soon became known as the "greens" and the "blacks", the former consisting of those in favor of Aegon inheriting the Iron Throne, while the latter favored Rhaenyra. The enmity between Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra was passed on to their children; Aegon and his brothers did not get along with their Velaryon nephews, and resented the three boys for having stolen their "birthright", the Iron Throne itself. Prince Aegon was convinced that Rhaenyra's three Velaryon sons were fathered by Ser Harwin Strong and stated such to his brother Aemond. The six boys attended the same feasts, balls, and revels, and sometimes trained together under the same master-at-arms and studied under the same maesters. Archmaester Gyldayn believed that forcing Aegon and his siblings to be close to Rhaenyra's sons only caused their mutual dislike to grow.

By the time he was thirteen years old, Prince Aegon had become a dragon rider, having successfully bonded with the young Sunfyre. After the deaths of their spouses, Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon married. In 120 AC, Rhaenyra bore a son she named Aegon, intended to be a slight towards Prince Aegon, much to the worth of Queen Alicent. In 122 AC, by the ancient tradition of House Targaryen, Prince Aegon the Elder married his sister, Princess Helaena Targaryen, in King's Landing. Their first children, the twins Prince Jaehaerys and Princess Jaehaera, were born a year later, as were two bastards, a boy Aegon had fathered on a girl whose maidenhead he had won at an auction in the Street of Silk and a girl he had fathered on one of his mother's servants. In 127 AC, Helaena gave birth to Aegon's youngest son, Prince Maelor.

Despite the various attempts of King Viserys to get Aegon, his siblings, and their Velaryon nephews on friendlier terms, Aegon remained resentful of Rhaenyra's children. When at a feast on the first day of 127 AC, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon asked Princess Helaena for a dance, Aegon took offense. They argued, and might even have fought, had the Kingsguard not intervened.