Aegon II Targaryen

Aegon II Targaryen, also known as  'Aegon the Younger' and later called  'the Unbroken', was the eldest surviving son of Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen and her second husband Daemon Targaryen, and was the seventh Targaryen monarch to rule Westeros. Aegon bore witness first-hand to the majority of the horrors of the bloody Dance of the Dragons, and was left forever changed by the events.

Initially married to Princess Jaehaera Targaryen, the simpleminded daughter of Aegon the Usurper, he would later marry the lady Myrielle Peake after Queen Jaehaera committed apparent suicide. He was a dragonrider, albeit only once, and his mount was Stormcloud.

From his two Queens he would produce three successive monarchs; Baela Targaryen, Aegon III Targaryen and Jaehaerys II Targaryen. He is the paternal grandfather of the current monarch, Daenaerys Targaryen. Through him and his brother, Prince Viserys, the two modern branches of House Targaryen were founded.

Early Life
Aegon was born towards the end of 120 AC to Prince Daemon Targaryen and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Aegon was named after the first Targaryen king, Aegon the Conqueror. Queen Alicent Hightower, the second wife of his grandfather King Viserys I Targaryen, took offense to Aegon's name, since she had given birth to a son named Aegon herself years before, and felt that Rhaenyra's choice of the name was a slight against her own son. Because two princes during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen were named Aegon, history refers to Queen Alicent's son as Aegon the Elder, whereas Rhaenyra's son was called Aegon the Younger.

Aegon had three older half-brothers, Princes Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey Velaryon, from his mother's first marriage, to Ser Laenor Velaryon, and two older half-sisters, Princesses Baela and Rhaena Targaryen, from his father's second marriage, to Lady Laena Velaryon. Two years after Aegon's birth, Rhaenyra gave birth to another boy, Viserys. Aegon lived with his mother, father, and siblings on Dragonstone, the ancestral seat of House Targaryen and his mother's seat as the Princess of Dragonstone. In 129 AC on Dragonstone, his mother gave birth to Aegon's sister, Visenya, who was stillborn.

Aegon shared his bedchamber with his younger brother Viserys. They were constant companions during their youth on Dragonstone; they took their lessons together, and played together as well. By 129 AC, Aegon had bonded with the dragon Stormcloud.

The Dance of the Dragons
A war of succession began with the death of Aegon's grandfather, King Viserys I Targaryen, early in 129 AC. Though Aegon's mother, Rhaenyra Targaryen, had been named heir to the Iron Throne by Viserys, Aegon the Younger's half-uncle, Aegon the Elder, was crowned King Aegon II in King's Landing. The resulting war became known as the Dance of the Dragons.

As part of the terms Aegon the Usurper offered to Prince Aegon's mother Rhaenyra, Aegon the Younger and his brother Viserys would be given places of honor at the royal court, with Aegon becoming a squire for 'King' Aegon. Rhaenyra angrily refused the terms.

Late in 129 AC, at the behest of their half-brother Jacaerys Velaryon, Aegon and his younger brother Viserys were sent to Essos while their mother Rhaenyra secured the Iron Throne. During the journey, their ship, the Gay Abandon, was captured by ships of the Triarchy. Aegon escaped capture by flying on his dragon Stormcloud, leaving his brother Viserys behind. He had never flown Stormcloud before, and the experience left him shaken. He clung to the dragon's neck during the journey back to Dragonstone, where he informed the garrison of all that had happened. His dragon Stormcloud had been severely wounded during the flight and died within an hour after arriving on the Targaryen island. Aegon would never ride a dragon again.

Aegon would always feel guilty for leaving his younger brother Viserys behind. Their brother Jacaerys led an attack against the fleet of the Triarchy that had attacked Aegon's ship, but died in the struggle together with his dragon Vermax on the fifth day of 130 AC.

In 130 AC Queen Rhaenyra took King's Landing. Once she felt secure enough, Aegon was summoned to the capital. Rhaenyra named him her cupbearer, so he would always be close to her. Aegon hardly spoke a word during this time, and remained by her side when she closed herself in Maegor's Holdfast until Cregan Stark and the 'Lads' relieved her. With the death of Aegon the Usurper at Dragonstone, Aegon Targaryen no longer went by 'the Younger'. Instead, he was hailed as the new Prince of Dragonstone, and heir to the Iron Throne.

Triumph of the Blacks
Aegon's melancholy was a well-known sight at court as his mother settled into her rule, but it was eventually relieved when, after years of negotiation and gold, Aegon's brother Viserys returned with his Essosi bride, Larra Rogare. Viserys’s survival and return lifted the guilt Aegon had felt since abandoning the Gay Abandon, and did much to reduce his loneliness, as Viserys resumed his role as Aegon’s constant companion. However, the brothers would be driven apart again; this time by their mother, who exerted suffocating control over both of their lives. In particular, she arranged the betrothal of young Princess Jaehaera Targaryen, the sole living child of Aegon the Usurper, to Aegon in 131 AC. Aegon, for his part, seemed utterly apathetic to the idea of it.

At age fifteen, Aegon would leave the Capital and retreat to his seat of Dragonstone. The Crown Prince could no longer tolerate the controlling yoke of his mother Queen Rhaenyra and was relieved when she let him depart without much complaint. Aegon found peace and solitude in the ancestral halls of Targaryen, and though he never claimed a dragon, he did bear witness to the last hatching of dragons there; making Aegon possibly one of the last people in Westeros to witness the wonder of the birth of a new dragon.

The birth of the three new hatchlings on Dragonstone was first celebrated, seen as a new and bright future for House Targaryen; that celebration turned to horror when the newborn dragon song lured a fearsome predator from the skies; the Cannibal, who descended on Dragonmont and, as his name fortold, devoured the newborn dragons and nearly killed Aegon in the process.

The Last Dance
Queen Rhaenyra had been horrified to learn of how her son had nearly died from the Cannibal's bloody return to Dragonstone, and though she tried to forstall it, Prince Viserys soon mounted Silverwing to give chase to the monster. When the news of his brother's boldness reached Aegon, he was said to weep at once, proclaiming that he had already begun to grieve for his beloved brother.

Aegon's foresight was proven right. Prince Viserys and Silverwing both died fighting the Cannibal, and Rhaenyra the Black did not long outlive them. She had already lost three sons; her heart could not take another's demise. Though Aegon raced to be at her side, he was not in time, and only arrived to see her burned in the courtyard of the Red Keep. The uncrowned King sent his mother's ashes to Dragonstone.

The Unbroken King
Many awaited the inevitable. Aegon was now a boy truly orphaned; all of his brothers were dead, his dragon was dead, and now his mother was gone as well. He had truly lost everything. Still, Aegon persisted. He survived, as he had all his life; some said it was the only thing he truly knew how to do.

Honouring his mother's arrangement, Aegon married Princess Jaehaera Targaryen on the seventh day of the seven moon in 138 AC. The ceremony was performed outside of the ruined Dragonpit on Visenya's Hill. The marriage united the two branches of House Targaryen, joining the Greens to the Blacks. Following the wedding, the couple traveled in an open litter to the Red Keep, where Aegon was officially crowned as King Aegon II.

Aegon's first act as king was to fill the five vacancies in the Kingsguard. Next appointed was the Hand of the King, the pin given to one Lord Unwin Peake, for Cregan Stark had turned tail to the North after he had ensured Rhaenyra's son had taken his place on the Throne without issue. Although Aegon would sit upon the Iron Throne when it was required of him, he was otherwise not often seen, preferring to keep to himself still as he had once done on Dragonstone.

This spell was broken when Queen Jaehaera delivered Aegon's first child, Princess Baela, on a cool evening in 142 AC. Though the birth had deeply traumatized the simpleminded Queen, who had scarce understood most of it, Aegon was grateful to her and sat at her bedside as she recovered. Little Baela seemed to be the very tonic the both of them needed to begin to heal, as they marveled at the life they had brought into the world. Laughter filled the halls of Maegor's Holdfast for the first time in many years.

Just as swiftly, though, it turned to tears. Though many had presumed Jaehaera would recover from the difficult birth, it seemed her mind was never the same. She died seemingly of suicide the same year, although rumors of murder were told all throughout King's Landing. Though Aegon had great trouble processing his emotions around her sudden death, he did not much hesitate in taking Myrielle Peake, the daughter of his hand Lord Peake, to wife and Queen shortly after Jaehaera's death.

His new Peake wife would give him nothing less than twins the year following Baela's birth; Aegon and Jaehaerys, the boys were named, with many presuming he had named them so to honour himself and his dead Queen. Whatever the case, Myrielle cared for the boys with a troubling level of near-fanaticism, leaving Baela to the care of nurses and her father.

Baela was said to be (at least, by servants) the only woman Aegon ever even came close to loving. He doted on the girl, giving her sweets and trinkets whenever he had the time. She was always 'his little Queen', and was naturally named the Princess of Dragonstone upon her birth; cementing her place in the line of succession before her Peake-born brothers.

The Blue Dragon Revolt
Only seven years into Aegon's rule, the seeds of a second Dance were sown when House Hightower proved themselves treasonous again, swearing allegiance to the sudden appearance of Prince Daeron, 'the Daring', once the rider of Tessarion, the Blue Queen. In her memory he styled himself the Blue Dragon and a new faction rose up, the 'Blues', to threaten the long-dormant 'Blacks'. Westeros spiraled, as it seemed they were to pick sides once again. Former Greens did not hesitate to dye their banners blue and flocked to Oldtown to swear allegiance to the 'rightful' King; and Aegon the Unbroken did not hesitate to fight for his crown.

Death
The revolt would be the demise of Aegon, as he was ultimately cut down by the Blue pretender during the Third Battle of Tumbleton, but Daeron would not long outlast the Unbroken either, as Lord Benjicot Blackwood's archers rained down arrows onto the field and slew the Blue Dragon at once. The Blacks did not hesitate, shaking off the shock of Aegon's demise and seizing victory slimly, in the name of his three-year-old daughter Baela.

Legacy
Aegon the Unbroken only ruled for seven unremarkable years, and yet accomplished more than other monarchs had during their entire reigns. With his marriage to Jaehaera Targaryen, he reunited the two factions of House Targaryen, and his daughter Baela went on to be a beloved Queen of Westeros, rivaling the Conciliator in her universal adoration. His two sons, Aegon and Jaehaerys, would also follow their father to the throne, and his line continues in the present monarch, Daenaerys, and her children and grandchildren.

He is remembered most fondly as a survivor of the Dance, a King who never yielded to death despite the loss of his entire family, part of why he was called, 'the Unbroken'.

Appearance
Aegon was a handsome boy with dark purple eyes which looked almost black, and dark silver hair. He was lean of face and body. By the age of ten, Aegon was considered tall for his age, but was generally agreed to be a comely young man.

Aegon dressed simply, and in black (always, according to Maester Yandel, most oft according to Archmaester Gyldayn). He wore a circlet of yellow gold, simple and unadorned. Those who recall him compare him frequently to his granddaughter Queen Daenaerys in terms of appearance.

Personality
Aegon was, for the first half of his life, seen as a joyless man, severely marked by his experiences during the Dance of the Dragons. Mushroom's accounts state that Aegon seldom smiled and laughed even less as a boy. According to the dwarf, Aegon could be graceful and courtly when it was required, but at the same time had 'a darkness within him that never went away'. After his mother's victory, his darkest tendencies seemed to fade away as the scars began to heal, though they never disappeared entirely.

The guilt he felt over having abandoned his younger brother Viserys when their ships were attacked during the Dance of the Dragons caused him to become prone to somberness and isolation, something which improved when Viserys returned from Lys.

Aegon showed little interest in women or men, leading many to believe that Aegon had no interest in promiscuity or romance, for he seemed to have distant relations with both of the women in his life. He was never cruel to Jaehaera or Myrielle, but simply did not seem to find them attractive or simply never came to love them as companions, though he was friendly with them well enough. Even still, he seemed to struggle to grieve for Jaehaera when she committed suicide.