House Targaryen

Daeron II Targaryen

the Good

Life: 153 AC
House: Targaryen

The king who won Dorne by marriage rather than war — the chronicle holds the ending of his reign back for readers who haven't reached that chapter.

Daeron II was recorded as the son of Aegon IV and his sister-wife Naerys, though the court gossiped then, and the Citadel still hedges now, that his true father was likelier Naerys's own brother and devoted protector, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight — a rumor never proven and never entirely put to rest either. Whatever his blood, Daeron ruled nothing like his father: thoughtful where Aegon IV was appetite-driven, and determined, from early in his reign, to succeed where generations of Targaryen kings had failed and bring Dorne fully into the realm. His marriage to Myriah Martell and his sister Daenerys's marriage into House Martell in turn achieved by treaty and matrimony what two centuries of Targaryen war and dragonfire never had.

The arc of Daeron II Targaryen

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

Daeron's reign is not free of war: the First Blackfyre Rebellion, raised by his own bastard half-brother Daemon Blackfyre on the strength of Aegon IV's deathbed legitimization, forces Daeron to put down his own kin at the Battle of the Redgrass Field in 196 AC, a victory that costs the crown almost as much as a defeat would have. He does not live to see the Blackfyre threat fully resolved; the Great Spring Sickness that sweeps the realm in 209 AC kills him and his two eldest grandsons in the same season, leaving the throne to a son, Aerys, whom nothing in his reign had particularly prepared to rule.

Where the books leave Daeron II Targaryen: died in 209 AC of the Great Spring Sickness, the same outbreak that killed his own two eldest grandsons and heirs within the same terrible season

These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.

Sourcesfire-and-bloodtwoiafthe-hedge-knight

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Who is Daeron II Targaryen?

The Targaryen king who reunited Dorne with the Seven Kingdoms by marriage rather than conquest, and who survived the First Blackfyre Rebellion led by his own bastard half-brother.

Is Daeron II Targaryen alive?

No — the chronicle need only say that his reign did not end quietly; the particulars are treated in his veiled record.