Any more fires in this house, I'm lighting them! / Hellfire don't need lighting and it's already burning in you... / Whatever's burning in me is mine! / Amen! / And I'll split this town in two and everything in it before I'll let you put it out!

— Sula, Toni Morrison

/ 2022

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the dragon that is house targaryen has three heads for the first time since aegon the conquer and his sister-wives

the dragon-riders of the seven kingdoms almost go extinct

⠀⠀❝A violent struggle for succession was likely no matter who the Old King named to succeed him. Therefore, King Jaehaerys announced his intent to convene a Great Council to discuss, debate, and ultimately decide the matter of succession. All the great and lesser lords of Westeros would be invited to attend, together with maesters from the Citadel of Oldtown, and septas and septons to speak for the Faith. Let the claimants make their cases before the assembled lords, His Grace decreed. He would abide by the council's decision, whomever they might choose.

⠀⠀⠀⠀In 101 AC, lords came from every corner of the realm, from the Dornish Marches to the shadow of the Wall, from the Three Sisters to the Iron Islands. The lords gathered in the largest castle in the realm, Harrenhall, and duly considered no fewer than fourteen claims. The Great Council deliberated for thirteen days before a decision was reached.

⠀⠀⠀⠀King Jaehaerys had not attended the council, but when word of their verdict reached him, His Grace thanked the lords for their service and gratefully conferred the style Prince of Dragonstone upon his grandson Viserys. Storm's End and Driftmark accepted the decision, if grudgingly. In the eyes of many, the Great Council of 101 AC thereby established an iron precedent on matters of succession: regardless of seniority, the Iron Throne of Westeros could not pass to a woman, nor through a woman to her male descendants.

⠀⠀⠀⠀To keep the peace, and ultimately as a symbol of unification, Viserys' first course of action as heir claimant was to bestow the title of Princess of Dragonstone upon his half-sister Vaerya Targaryen. "I do not need our ancestral seat to become king," Viserys announced to the lords in attendance. "Vaerya, daughter of Baelon the Brave, my beloved half-sister, shall sit there in my stead."

⠀⠀⠀⠀This proclamation strengthened the ties between House Targaryen and House Velaryon, but it ruptured the rest of the realm. No such announcement had ever been made; the heir claimant had always held the ancestral seat of Dragonstone. However, with King Jaehaerys smitten with the girl child and Viserys named his successor, no lords publicly raised their voices in disagreement.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Vaerya—the result of the short union between Baelon and Rhaenys Targaryen—would not learn of her new title until a raven arrived at Driftmark in the following days. While the girl of ten would soon fly across the sea atop her fierce mount Xadras the Black Death, she was currently content stealing away to visit the two other dragons that were hers: Gaelithox and Dieghar.

⠀⠀⠀⠀According to all preserved written accounts, this would be the last time Vaerya and her dragons would set foot on Driftmark until the funerals of her half-siblings.❞

— Excerpt from Fire & Blood: Being a History of the Targaryen Kings of Westeros by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown

⠀⠀⠀⠀❝In the 90th year after Aegon's Conquest, the king and queen shared one of their last good times together, as they celebrated the wedding of their eldest grandchild, Princess Rhaenys, to Corlys Velaryon of Driftmark, Lord of the Tides. The princess was sure that it was Corlys the Sea Snake who was to be the love of her life, not Baelon the Brave, who she had separated from but six moons earlier.

⠀⠀⠀⠀In 91 AC, King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne were blessed again by the gods when Rhaenys presented them with Baelor's youngest child, the only one not sired with their late Alyssa. Princess Vaerya was born on the twentieth day of the eleventh moon of the year. Seton Barth swore she came from the womb with a smile on her lips. When Ser Corlys held her in his arms for the first time, he was heard to call the little girl "mine own child."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Like Baelon's first wife, against all advice, Rhaenys clapped the girl in swaddling clothes, strapped the babe to her chest, and took her aloft on Meleys when she was barely three days old. Afterward, she claimed Vaerya squealed with glee the whole while. Perhaps this was the beginning of the child's affinity for dragons.

⠀⠀⠀⠀It seemed Vaerya was hellbent on becoming a dragonrider. She spent long hours visiting her two hatchlings in the Dragonpit with her brother Prince Daemon by her side. This observation would typically be no cause for elaboration as most Targaryen children spend their childhood in the Dragonpit, but Vaerya's case was curious for two reasons.

⠀⠀⠀⠀One, the girl child had completely enamored her half-brother Daemon, who was known to be hot-headed and quarrelsome. However, he was found to be gentle when it came to the sweet girl. They were often spotted together, him handing her a treat as he told her tales of his youthful adventures.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Second, and even more starling, was Vaerya being found in the Dragonpit, mounting Xadras during the hour of the owl, her beloved brother supervising from afar. Xadras the Black Death was a cobalt black she-dragon, born on Dragonstone with Vhagar and Meraxes. She was second only in size and age to Vhagar. The girl had been training to bond with her two hatchlings, both of which sprang forth a fortnight after her birth; she had received two dragon eggs in the cradle: one from her Targaryen birth parents and another from her Velaryon stepfather.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Despite eventually having her choice of Gaelithox and Dieghar, the two young he-dragons, Vaerya had decided to mount Xadras. The formidable dragon had never before been ridden, considered far too deadly for any rider to bond with her. In fact, she had greatly injured Viserys when he tried to mount her after Balerion the Black Dread's passing. But his half-sister had done so successfully and was seen by the smallfolk flitting through the sky for the rest of the night. And so, at the age of five, Vaerya Targaryen became the youngest dragonrider to date.

⠀⠀⠀⠀In the years that followed, the maiden would earn herself many names. The small folk regarded her as the Dragon Princess, for no other royal had so many. The Dragonkeepers dubbed her the Dragon Whisperer, for no rider had ever bonded with more than one dragon, let alone three. Daemon affectionately named her the Dragon General, for he said she had an army all her own. Baelon called her his Dragon Daughter, Rhaenys and Corlys their Dragon Child.

⠀⠀⠀⠀And Rhaenyra, her darling niece, came up with her proudest title: Aunt Rya. When Viserys I Targaryen and Lady Aemma of House Arryn produced their child, the princess was immediately taken with the babe. She doted on the newborn, refusing to leave her side even when the wet nurse breastfed her. Both aunt and niece cried each time Vaerya left Kings Landing for Driftmark, where she spent half her years in company with her mother, stepfather, and two precious half-siblings. The sobs of Princess Rhaenyra could always be heard as she begged her "Aunt Rya" to come back as she tearfully watched Vaerya fly away on Xadras. The city residents claim that before the princess left Kings Landing, Xadras always let out a mournful roar as if lamenting the parting of the two girls.

⠀⠀⠀⠀But who can presume to know the heart of a dragon?❞

— Excerpt from The Rebirth of the Three-Headed Dragon: The Lives and Deaths of the Targaryen Triumvirate by Archmaester Craxon of the Citadel of Oldtown

/ THE DRAGON GENERAL

played by holliday grainger & charlize theon

— b. 91 AC

girl, you need to get out of this jagged dreamscape, this forest. / set the tree on fire, the earth on fire, yourself, everything.

/ THE REALM'S DELIGHT

played by milly alcock & emma d'arcy

b. 97 AC

she spun herself a crown of gold, thrones of bones and citadels. to the deaf stars she screamed: make me queen or i'll make you bleed.

/ THE ROGUE PRINCE

played by matt smith

— b. 81 AC

rage is gripped in the hands. [...] rage gets stuck in the throat, repressed. rage is a promised kept.

Viserys I Targaryen ... Paddy Considine

Young Alicent Hightower ... Emily Carey

Alicent Hightower ... Olivia Cooke

Corlys Velaryon ... Steve Toussaint

Rhaenys Targaryen ... Eve Best

Cristen Cole ... Fabien Frankel

Lyonel Strong ... Gavin Spokes

Harwin Strong ... Ryan Corr

The House of the Dragon Cast as Their Respective Characters

Others as Introduced and Described

to be provided before each chapter

graphic violence/torture, gore, death/character death, graphic language, graphic sexual content, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of child loss, domestic abuse, ableism, homophobia, incest, grooming, mentions of suicide and self harm, any warnings that apply to the show or books

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