Maester Aemon
| House / Order | House Targaryen (renounced) |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Valyrian |
| Status | Deceased |
| Origin | The Wall; at sea near Braavos |
| Born | 198 AC |
| Died | 300 AC, Braavos |
| Weapon | |
| Fate | Died of age and illness aboard ship while being taken south by Samwell Tarly |
| Portrayed by | Peter Vaughan |
Maester Aemon, born Aemon Targaryen, is the blind, ancient maester of the Night's Watch at Castle Black, and one of the wisest and most beloved figures in A Song of Ice and Fire. A son of the royal House Targaryen who renounced his claim and his name to serve as a healer and scholar, he lives to well over a hundred years, a quiet witness to the fall of his own dynasty.
Aemon's counsel shapes Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly, and his hidden royal blood makes his presence at the Wall one of the saga's poignant ironies, for the last dragon dies far from the throne his house once held.
Background
Aemon was born a prince of House Targaryen, a grandson of King Daeron II and brother to Aegon V, "Egg," the unlikely king whose squire days are chronicled in the Tales of Dunk and Egg. Sent to the Citadel and trained as a maester, Aemon was twice in the line of succession and twice declined the Iron Throne, judging that a maester sworn to serve could not be a king. To remove himself from the schemes of others, he took the black and journeyed to The Wall, where he served the Night's Watch faithfully for the rest of his long life, outliving his entire family and watching from afar as Robert's Rebellion destroyed his house.
Biography
A Game of Thrones through A Storm of Swords
By the time of the main events, Aemon is over a hundred years old and blind, served by stewards including Samwell Tarly. He counsels Jon Snow through his crises of loyalty, most memorably when news of Eddard Stark's death tempts Jon to desert; Aemon, who knows better than anyone the agony of choosing duty over family, reveals his own Targaryen origins and the terrible choices his vows once cost him. He recognizes Daenerys's hatching of dragons as the return of magic to the world and longs, too frail and too late, to reach her.
A Feast for Crows
The new Lord Commander Jon Snow orders Aemon sent south to spare him the killing cold and to keep his Targaryen identity safe from Melisandre, who hungers for king's blood. Aemon, with Sam, Gilly, and her child, takes ship for the Citadel at Oldtown. The voyage is hard on the frail old man; storms and illness sap his last strength. Lucid to the end, he speaks of dragons and prophecy, and dies at sea near Braavos, murmuring "Egg, I dreamed that I was old." Sam sees him given a proper farewell.
Character
Aemon is gentle, wise, and profoundly humane, tempered by a long life of renunciation and loss. He understands duty's cruelties from the inside, having surrendered crown, name, and family for his vows. His counsel is unsentimental but kind, and his blindness only sharpens his insight into men. He carries the grief of his vanished house quietly, and his deathbed words reveal how near the surface that sorrow always lay.
Relationships
Aemon's mentorship of Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly is the heart of his late chapters; he sees in both young men reflections of duty's hard demands. He grieves the destruction of his family, especially his brother Egg, and yearns toward the distant Daenerys, the last hope of his blood.
Quotes
Kill the boy and let the man be born.
Egg. I dreamed that I was old. (his dying words)
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Maester Aemon was portrayed by Peter Vaughan. His arc follows the novels closely; he counsels Jon and Sam at the Wall and dies at Castle Black (rather than at sea, as in the books) before Sam departs for the Citadel.