House Targaryen
House Targaryen of Dragonstone, and later King's Landing, was the royal House that ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros for nearly three centuries. Their sigil is a three-headed red dragon breathing flame on a black field, and their words are "Fire and Blood." Of Valyrian blood, the Targaryens were the last of the dragonlords of the Freehold to survive the Doom of Valyria, having removed to the island fortress of Dragonstone a dozen years before the cataclysm.
The Targaryens were distinguished by silver-gold hair and violet eyes, and above all by their bond with dragons. To preserve the purity of their blood they frequently wed brother to sister, a practice abhorred elsewhere in Westeros but sanctioned within the House.
History
About a century after the Doom, Aegon I, called the Conqueror, sailed from Dragonstone with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys and three dragons. In Aegon's Conquest he subdued six of the seven kingdoms and forged the Iron Throne from the swords of his fallen enemies. The dynasty endured wars, madness, and the ruinous civil war remembered as the Dance of the Dragons, which left the dragons all but extinct.
The line ended on the throne when Aerys II, the Mad King, was slain during Robert's Rebellion. His surviving children, Viserys and Daenerys, fled into exile across the Narrow Sea.
Notable Members
- Aegon the Conqueror, the first king of the Seven Kingdoms
- Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King, last Targaryen to rule
- Rhaegar Targaryen, the crown prince, slain at the Trident
- Viserys Targaryen, the exiled would-be king
- Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, who hatched three dragons from stone
Significance
The Targaryens defined Westeros: they unified its kingdoms, raised King's Landing, and ruled until their fall. The survival of Daenerys and the rebirth of dragons under her threaten to overturn the order that replaced them.