SQUAMAE

Many believe the troubles of Viserys I's reign began on the day he married Alicent Hightower. Without a doubt, that union became one of the pillars supporting the eventual downfall of House Targaryen. Yet the ruin truly began a few days earlier, when the king, knowing the young woman was already promised to another, chose to take her for himself, taking her from his younger brother, Rhaegon Targaryen. The decision drove the prince into exile after tensions with the Crown, and opened a wound within the royal family that would never truly heal.

Years later, Rhaegon returned to court. During his exile, he had found refuge in Dorne, where he married a lady of House Dayne and built a family of his own. He returned with two sons, young boys of Targaryen blood, and his reappearance rekindled tensions many believed had long since faded. The fragile peace began to falter when Rhaegon, rider of one of the largest living dragons, declared absolute loyalty to the proclamation naming Princess Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne.

For those who understood its meaning, the message was unmistakable. Long before Viserys died, the realm was already divided.