How 1 Targaryen’s Death Changed Game of Thrones History

Baelor Targaryen’s name echoes throughout Game of Thrones history. Wise beyond his years, Baelor served as Hand to King Daeron the Good until his life was tragically cut short at the Tourney of Ashford, where he came to the aid of a hedge knight named Ser Duncan the Tall.

Impressed by Ser Duncan’s values, Baelor volunteered to fight for him alongside five other champions in the infamous Trial of Seven, which was demanded by his cruel and unstable nephew, Aerion the Monstrous. As seen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Aerion accused Ser Duncan of treason, forcing him to prove his innocence via the trial. Although the defending champions were successful, this victory came at a terrible cost to House Targaryen.

Who Was Baelor Targaryen?

Baelor Targaryen was King Daeron II’s heir and Prince of Dragonstone at the time of the Ashford Tourney in 209 AC. Dark-haired, unlike most members of House Targaryen, Baelor was destined to ascend the Iron Throne after his father. In many ways, he ruled and governed on behalf of the scholarly Daeron, who preferred books, and Maesters of the realm to warriors and tourneys. Baelor came to be known as Breakspear after he defeated his half-uncle at the wedding tourney held in honor of Aunt Daenerys’ wedding to Maron Martell.

Baelor and his younger brother Maekar, however, embodied the martial strength of their house, earning the monikers the Hammer and the Anvil for their decisive role in crushing Daemon Blackfyre’s army in the final clash at the Battle of the Redgrass Field. This battle resulted in the deaths of Daemon and two of his sons, Aegon and Aemon, at the hands of Brynden Rivers/ Bloodraven and his archers, cementing King Daeron II as the undisputed Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. Although successive rebellions followed, Baelor had already established a name for himself as a formidable warrior of the realm.

Since he was Hand and as glimpsed in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Baelor became increasingly involved in the administrative affairs in the later years of King Daeron’s reign. He was married to Jena Dondarrion, with whom he had two sons, Valarr and Matarys. After Baelor was accidentally struck by his brother’s mace at Ashford, an even bigger tragedy followed the same year: the Great Spring Sickness broke out, and both of his sons, Valarr and Matarys, who were now the next in line to the throne, died, birthing a succession crisis. This plague also took King Daeron’s life, leading to the ascension of his second son, Aerys, to the throne that same year.

Baelor’s Death Meant The Crown Passed To A Weaker King

Upon becoming king, Aerys I appointed his uncle, Bloodraven, as Hand of the King, largely leaving him in charge of the governance of the realm while he buried his nose in the books and fascinated himself with lore. He took his father’s love of reading to an obsessive extreme and neglected his duties to the realm, including producing an heir to the Iron Throne.

Aerys’ ascension happened at a time when the realm required a strong and capable leader. The threat of the Blackfyre Pretenders still lingered, and other crises, such as the Great Drought, simmered. The realm was also troubled by the Ironborn raiders under Dagon Greyjoy, and while Bloodraven was actively putting out fires everywhere, the Seven Kingdoms were in dire need of someone like Baelor Breakspear.

Baelor’s death also paved the way for an uncertain line of succession. During Aerys I’s reign, he recognized multiple heirs to the Iron Throne, beginning with his younger brother, Prince Rhaegel Targaryen. After Rhaegel’s death, Aerys I’s nephew, Prince Aelor Targaryen, briefly became the heir apparent, and later the claim passed to Aelor’s sister-wife, Princess Aelora Targaryen. With each heir dying, Aerys I finally acknowledged his youngest brother, Maekar Targaryen, as his successor.

Baelor Dying Is The Domino Effect That Made Egg King

Egg from A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms will eventually be named king because Baelor Breakspear’s untimely death triggered a chain of events that reshaped the Targaryen succession. After King Aerys’s death, the crown went to Maekar I, who himself had unworthy sons. While his first, Daeron, was plagued by prophetic dreams, the second, Aerion, succumbed to Targaryen madness, believing himself to be a dragon in human form, and infamously drank wildfire, thinking he would become a dragon. The third son, Aemon, wanted to remain true to his vows as a Maester and gave up his claim to the throne in favor of the youngest, Aegon, at the Great Council in 233 AC. In the end, Maekar, not Baelor’s son, was placed on the Iron Throne, with Egg becoming Aegon the Fifth of his name at the age of thirty-three.