Westeros Notorious Rulers and Families

Daeron I Targaryen

Daeron Of House Targaryen, First Of His Name, King Of The Andals, The Rhoynar, And The First Men, Lord Of The Seven Kingdoms, And Protector Of The Realm. King Daeron was also known as Prince of Dragonstone, The Young Dragon, The Boy King, and Daeron the Dragon, he is the son of Aegon III Targaryen and Daenaera Velaryon, born in 143 AC. Daeron died from a betrayal by the Dornishmen in 161 AC, King Daeron was 18 years old.

Youth: Daeron was born in 143 AC as the firstborn son and heir of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon. He had a younger brother, Prince Baelor, and three younger sisters, Princesses Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena. When his father died in 157 AC, the prince was crowned King Daeron I in 157 AC at the age of fourteen. Daeron kept his uncle, Prince Viserys, as his Hand of the King, as his uncle had held the position for Aegon III as well. Viserys did not insist upon a regency for the young king.

Conquest of Dorne: Daeron had long felt that the continued independence of Dorne represented unfinished business for the Targaryens, and upon his ascension, he vowed to rectify his ancestors' mistakes. Viserys and other councilors objected to the young king's plans, however, reminding Daeron that Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters had failed twice in trying to conquer Dorne with dragons and that the Iron Throne now had none. Daeron famously replied, "You have a dragon. He stands before you".

Daeron planned his conquest of Dorne with the aid of Lord Alyn Velaryon. The campaign showed great promise as Daeron went over and revised the mistakes that were made in the First Dornish War. Daeron split his army into three for the invasion and personally led the army down the Boneway. Learning from the mistakes made by Lord Orys Baratheon in the first war, Daeron used goat paths located in the past to avoid traps and ambushes which Dornishmen usually implemented to repel invaders. A second army led by Lord Lyonel Tyrell marched down the Prince's Pass. The third army was a naval assault by Alyn Oakenfist along the Dornish coast, and the royal fleet broke the Planky Town.

After several battles, the Prince of Dorne and two scores of Dornish lords bent the knee in the Submission of Sunspear in 158 AC, within a year of the invasion's beginning. Daeron became the first Targaryen king to conquer Dorne and unite all Seven Kingdoms for the first time, despite the loss of ten thousand men in taking the peninsula. Daeron wrote The Conquest of Dorne about his achievement. The book was known for its style and simplicity, but in it, Daeron exaggerated the numbers of his foes to make his conquest seem greater.

Daeron spent some time in Dorne to consolidate his conquest and eliminate rebels. An assassination attempt on the king was prevented by the actions of his cousin, Prince Aemon Targaryen, who threw himself in the path of a poisoned arrow meant for Daeron. Aemon the Dragonknight survived the poison, however, and was sent back to King's Landing to recover. Leaving Lord Tyrell in charge in Dorne, Daeron returned to the capital in 159 AC, bringing fourteen Dornish nobles with him as hostages. Daeron intended to wed one of his sisters to the Sealord of Braavos to seal an alliance with him, to remove the pirates that were hindering trade with Dorne. According to Grand Maester Kaeth's Lives of Four Kings, this talk of a marriage alliance with Braavos, at the time warring with Pentos and Lys, caused those other Free Cities to lend aid to the Dornish rebels.

Rebellion and Death: Although the Dornish nobility had submitted to House Targaryen, the Dornish smallfolk continued to resist. Daeron's steward in Dorne, Lord Lyonel Tyrell, attempted to stamp out rebellion, and forty or fifty thousand men are said to have died in the next three years. A clever trap at Sandstone killed Lyonel and sparked a great uprising, however, leading Daeron to return to Dorne in 160 AC.

The Young Dragon achieved victories along the Boneway while Lord Alyn Velaryon dealt with the Planky Town and the Greenblood. Thinking the Dornish were again willing to submit, Daeron met with them under a peace banner in 161 AC. However, in a betrayal, the Dornishmen attacked Daeron and his retinue. The eighteen-year-old king died with Blackfyre in his hand, surrounded by a dozen enemies. Three knights of the Kingsguard were slain while defending him — including Ser Olyvar Oakheart — one yielded, and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was captured, though Aemon managed to slay two of the betrayers before being taken into custody. Daeron was succeeded by his brother, Baelor I Targaryen, and the Dornish hostages in King's Landing were thrown into the dungeons by Prince Viserys, the Hand of the King. The Weeping Town received its name from the townspeople's reaction when Daeron's corpse arrived from Dorne. Although most lords were vengeful after Daeron's death, Baelor the Blessed forgave the assassins and brought about a rapprochement with the Dornish.

In the city of Oldtown, there is a statue of King Daeron I astride a tall stone horse, his sword lifted toward Dorne. Grand Maester Kaeth wrote about Daeron's reign in Lives of Four Kings.