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.
House Targaryen
Daeron II Targaryen
the Good
- Life
- 153 AC
- House
- Targaryen
- Titles
- King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men · Lord of the Seven Kingdoms
- Allegiance
- House Targaryen
- Seat
- King's Landing (the Red Keep)
- Culture
- Valyrian (Targaryen)
- Religion
- The Faith of the Seven
- Notable for
- United Dorne with the Seven Kingdoms by marriage rather than conquest, and survived the First Blackfyre Rebellion
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.
Key events
- 153 ACBorn the recorded son of Aegon IV and his sister-wife Naerys, though court rumor — never proven, never entirely put to rest — favored Prince Aemon the Dragonknight as his true father.
- no fixed yearWeds Myriah Martell, while his sister Daenerys marries into House Martell in turn.
- 184 ACSucceeds his father Aegon IV as king, inheriting a court destabilized by Aegon's deathbed legitimization of his bastard children.
- c. 184-196 ACAchieves by treaty and marriage what two centuries of Targaryen war and dragonfire never managed — bringing Dorne fully into the realm.
- 196 ACPuts down the First Blackfyre Rebellion, raised by his own bastard half-brother Daemon Blackfyre, at the Battle of the Redgrass Field.
- 209 ACDies of the Great Spring Sickness, the same outbreak that kills his own two eldest grandsons and heirs within the same season.
Reading the character
Daeron II stands out among the Targaryen kings this chronicle covers for succeeding at the one thing nearly all his predecessors and successors failed at: solving Dorne. Where conquest, dragons, and generations of Targaryen war never managed to bring the region fully into the Seven Kingdoms, Daeron's patient use of marriage and treaty achieves it within his own reign — a genuinely rare instance of a Targaryen king's signature accomplishment being built rather than burned.
That achievement comes bundled with a cost his father's excesses guaranteed him: a rebellion raised by his own bastard half-brother that forces him to put down his own kin in open battle, a war he wins but that costs the crown nearly as dearly as a loss might have. The rumor over his own parentage — never settled, never quite dropped — adds a fittingly ambiguous note to a king whose reign is otherwise one of the more genuinely constructive in his dynasty's history.
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.
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
Explore further
House
Battles fought
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.