Lyonel Targaryen

Lyonel Targaryen, also known as  'the Dragonstorm' , is the nineth child and fifth son of Queen Daenaerys I Targaryen and her second husband, King Consort Durran Dondarrion. The first son and child of their marriage, Lyonel is also called  'the Second Firstborn' due to how beloved he was of his parents in his youth. Lyonel has two full siblings, Elenei Targaryen and Orys Targaryen, six living half-siblings by her mother's first marriage and a bastard-half-brother, Daemon Waters, fathered by his cousin Baelor Targaryen.

A war hero of the The Conquest of Dorne, Lyonel is also the appointed Commander of the Dragonkeepers, a force of seventy-seven men sworn to defend House Targaryen and their dragons.

Early Life
There is much to wonder about the birth of Prince Lyonel Targaryen, The Dragonstorm. First and foremost for many might be, particularly when studying the other men and women I have spoken of in these pages, is how a son of the dragon might come to have a stormlander’s name. For that we must look to the love Daenerys I showed to her second husband, Durran Dondarrion.

While Daenerys I and Rhaegar Velaryon sired many children together, there is little doubt that theirs was a marriage more of duty than of romance. Few can argue, however, that the match of Daenerys I and Durran Dondarrion was one of true love. Indeed their love was so that Daenerys herself allowed her husband to name each of their children in defiance to the traditions of her house. Some close to the Queen herself claimed that given her age, the birth of three children from the pairing was a blessing of the Mother, and a sign that Daenerys had found true and blessed love.

The night of Lyonel Targaryen’s birth was one that showed little in the way of blessings, however. A long labour, and one in the heat of a furious thunderstorm that raged over King’s Landing. The storm itself was so fierce that late into the night lightning struck the godswood, starting a fire that billowed smoke towards Maegor’s Holdfast as the young prince was at last brought into the world.

Despite the length of the labour, Lyonel Targaryen was born a healthy and strong baby boy, dark of hair and violet of eye within the holdfast. As he was taken into his exhausted mother’s arms and watched over by his father, those within the room that night claimed they had never seen a greater love.

Childhood
As a young prince, Lyonel’s life in King’s Landing was not too dissimilar from the upbringing that many of his half-siblings had faced. He was educated in the same manner, tutored by the grand maester in maths, the sciences, and all manner of scholarly pursuits, while his uncle Maekar saw to ensuring the prince’s sword-arm was strong and capable, and that he was able to stay atop his horse with ease.

The true separation between the young Lyonel and many of his half-siblings was in the relationship between himself and his parents. Lyonel was truly doted on by his parents, and it was a common occurrence that the queen would force the entire Small Council to join her outside so she might watch her son train and play with Durran and so that she could congratulate the young prince when he was the clear ‘victor’.

While the young Lyonel certainly grew to enjoy the sparring field, he did take to the martial pursuits with somewhat less of a vigour than many of his cousins and half-siblings, instead of dividing his attentions between scholarly pursuits, in particular history, and to other knightly pursuits such as the joust, which Lyonel grew quite fond of as he grew older and more capable.

It is well recorded that the young prince supposedly held quite the imagination as a young child, and would often regale both his mother and many of the councillors that joined her with stories of his dreams; of dragons bursting forth from mountains and vivid images of storms being swallowed by sand. As the prince would grow older, it seems that the young prince showed an increasing reluctance to share such dreams, and as they seemed to grow increasingly dark and dreary, the Queen herself made the young Lyonel swear to keep such dreams to himself.

Squirehood
Just before Lyonel’s twelfth birthday, early in 207 AC, the young Targaryen all but vanished from the public eye. Shaken by a vivid dream, he dove into the libraries of the Red Keep and refused to leave except when dragged from his books by his father for his other duties and training as a squire. While Lyonel’s parents grew increasingly concerned over the prince’s actions, they largely permitted his reclusive actions, and it is said that the Queen first began to argue with her son over this great dream of his, particularly as the year went on and she progressed her plans toward the conquest of Dorne.

Indeed, the dream the young Lyonel had seen foretold the Conquest of Dorne, of its success, but of the deaths that would come with it, of Viserys and of Durran, and more-so it foretold of the stupor and misery such losses would throw the Queen into. Never in his young life had Lyonel seen a dream so vivid, and so he searched for accounts of the others in his family history that had seen such visions in their dreams, such prophecies.

As he grew increasingly aware of the likelihood that he had seen no mere dream, but a true prophecy, Lyonel increasingly argued and debated with both his parents, trying desperately to urge them against the Conquest of Dorne, but to no avail. Queen Daenaerys once again forbade Lyonel to speak of his dreams, and the Conquest began all the same.

All Lyonel could do was ride alongside his father when it came time to March on the sands of Dorne, and hope he could somehow prevent the dream that he had seen.

The Conquest of Dorne
Knighted at the age of fourteen during the march to Dorne, it was not long into the prince’s knighthood that he was given a number of responsibilities. Durran, believing strongly in his son’s capability as not only a knight but as a prince, ensured that the kindly Lyonel was often involved in any negotiations that took place throughout the war, and though the fighting was violent and fierce, Lyonel never stained his blade with the blood of innocents.

Throughout the war, Lyonel met with the Prince of Dorne himself, and would even arrange a marriage between Coryanne Dayne and Jacklyn Caron as an emissary of the Queen during the conquest. At the fighting at Hellholt, Lyonel saw the Prince of Dorne cut down by his uncle and the body paraded as a trophy. Lyonel argued strongly against such an action, to the point where his father Durran promised he would see the bones returned to House Martell once the war was concluded.

Throughout the war, with the exception of those few times he would be sent away, Lyonel refused to ever leave his father’s side, terrified by the dream he had seen and ever-vigilant, Lyonel rarely slept, and was known to wander the camps at late hours of the night, watching the perimeter and exhausting himself as he worried frantically over whether or not his visions would indeed come true.

There would be no warning nor anything he could truly do when the time came, however. At the battle of Tallgrass, as arrows began to rain on the Royal host, Lyonel had barely laid eyes on his father for a moment before he watched an arrow pierce through Durran’s throat, leaving him bleeding. Though he tried to reach Durran, he was waylaid and separated from the main host as arrows showered his horse, leaving the young prince trapped, surrounded by Dornish forces.

Filled with a hatred he had not shown throughout the war, Lyonel took up his father’s hammer that he had wielded throughout the war, and slaughtered the Dornish forces that came at him. In his blind fury, Lyonel joined the forces of Jacklyn Caron and slaughtered soldiers and villagers alike. For his furious and merciless actions in the closing days of the war after Durran’s death, Lyonel came to be known as the Dragonstorm.

When at last his rage subsided, and Lyonel was left to reflect on both his actions and the fact that his dream had in fact come true, the violence and fury that he had showcased faded completely, and on the march back to King’s Landing the Prince was stoic and silent. For the entire march, Lyonel refused to be far from his father’s black Destrier, still marred with blood, and as he led it through the gates of the Red Keep, Lyonel was one of the first to relay the news of Durran’s death to his family.

Time Away From Court
After returning to King’s Landing, Lyonel Targaryen fell into a deep depression. Lamenting both his dreams and his seeming inability to do anything to prevent them from occurring, and grieving strongly for the death of his father, Lyonel followed his mother’s example to a degree and rarely strayed from the grounds of the Red Keep for some time.

Silently, Lyonel harboured a slow and growing distaste for his mother, and his depression, combined with the growing disconnect between the Queen and her children, drove him to harbour resentment and blame towards her for Dorne and the deaths it had wrought. In time, this resentment grew to a number of furious arguments between the two, which in turn led to Lyonel leaving King’s Landing to wander the Seven Kingdoms as a knight, chasing tourneys and the deliverance of justice.

During these lone travels, Lyonel came to spend a great deal of time in the company of the common folk, and in the company of septons, maesters and hedge knights. Though he lingered in grief and depression, Lyonel’s horizons were broadened, and he saw what life was outside of the Red Keep, away from the crown and the Iron Throne, and the memories of Old Valyria. Though he remained ever plagued by dreams calling him back to King’s Landing.

For three years, Lyonel spent very little time at all in King’s Landing, wandering and building connections and allies among many of the more minor lords, knights, scholarly and common folk of Westeros. In particular, Lyonel spent a great deal of time in Oldtown, among the Maesters of the Citadel and the High Septon, as well as with the Costaynes of the Hightower.

In the rare instances that Lyonel returned to King’s Landing during those three years, he never set foot back in the Red Keep, instead choosing to enjoy the company of his bastard half-siblings, in particular Daemon Waters - the two would make many long journeys through the streets of Flea Bottom, drinking and singing with the smallfolk. Occasionally he would visit with his half-sisters, his nieces and nephews and his sister Elenei and brother Orys, though he would often meet them in the high streets rather than within the Red Keep itself.

When Queen Daenaerys first emerged from her stupor, she sent word demanding that Prince Lyonel return to the capital to resume his duties as Prince over his duties as a knight. Though Lyonel still remained frustrated and angry with his mother, he accepted her decision, and returned to King’s Landing, riding up to the Red Keep with a gang of one-hundred men. While the men Lyonel had brought with him remained outside Maegor’s Holdfast, the Prince made a public apology to his mother for forgoing his duties as Prince, and she, in turn, announced he would be the new head of the Dragonkeepers, House Targaryen’s elite guard.

Second Royal Progress
Now returned to the capital, living among his family once again, Lyonel has taken to his duties as the head of the Dragonkeepers willingly. A common sight among his family, he takes the protection of House Targaryen seriously, though he remains the stoic and mostly-silent figure he has been since he returned from Dorne, often enjoying the company of his bastard half-siblings and the commoners of Flea Bottom more than that of his mother and the rest of the Red Keep’s highborn inhabitants.

On occasion, Lyonel’s relationship with his mother flares up anew to another shouting match, whether over something minor or over some new decision she has made as Queen, it varies often, but it is not an unfamiliar sound to many of those within the Red Keep to hear their voices echoing through the halls as they argue.

Despite the uncomfortable and strained relationship he holds with his mother, Lyonel remains a steadfast and devoted member of House Targaryen, and both a Prince and Knight that lives up to his titles. Though his nights remain plagued by dreams and memories, and grief still clouds around him like a storm, he takes to his duties each day with vigour in the hope that they might, at least for a time, drown away the sorrows that pull at him.

Appearance
The ‘Second Firstborn’ as it were, Lyonel carries the look and bearing of a true Prince of the Seven Kingdoms though he does not show the blood of old Valyria that flows in his veins. Taking his looks from his father, Lyonel appears almost as much a Stormlander as any Dondarrion, with dark hair despite his vibrant, amethyst eyes. He is adorned often in the colours of either House Targaryen or House Dondarrion. In particular, he favours the lavender hues of his father quite strongly. Notably, the breastplate he wears into battle is adorned with Amethysts in the shape of the Targaryen dragon.

Personality
When the Dragonstorm Prince speaks it is with a quiet and calm command. Rarely does he raise his voice, and in a quiet room, it can seem hardly above a whisper. He takes his time as he speaks, and the words that come from the dark-haired Targaryen are all spoken with a weight and power that seems only amplified by the cold and soft tone that he carries them with.