Daenaerys I Targaryen

Daenaerys Targaryen, later hailed as  'the Mother'  and  'the New Conqueror' following her Dornish Conquest, is the present Queen of Westeros and sitter of the Iron Throne. The eldest daughter of King Jaehaerys II Targaryen and his wife, Visenya Velaryon, Daenaerys ascended to the Iron Throne after her father's untimely demise in 190 AC, and has ruled ever since as the eleventh Targaryen monarch of the Seven Kingdoms. She is the third female sovereign of her line after Rhaenyra the Black and Baela the Good, and has ruled for a prosperous twenty-five years.

Twice-widowed; mother to eleven children and grandmother to four, Daenaerys is considered the matriarch and head of the modern House Targaryen. Despite her withdrawal in recent years following the conquest, the Queen has returned to public life and rule with the announcement of the Royal Progress of 215 AC, beginning at the ruins of Harrenhal.

Early Life
Daenaerys Targaryen was born in Maegor's Holdfast, 160 AC, after a labour of many days. She was the eldest and, at the time, only daughter of Jaehaerys Targaryen, the Hand of the Queen, and his young wife Visenya Velaryon. She was the first grandchild of Aegon II Targaryen to be born, and niece to Baela the Good. She was named to honour the King's cousin, frail Princess Naerys, who was a leal companion of the Lady Visenya during her confinement.

Visenya delivered two more daughters for Jaehaerys, named Alysanne and Jaehaera respectively, in the years proceeding. Though all three were valid living heirs to the Iron Throne due to the precedent set by Rhaenyra the Black in the Dance of the Dragons, Jaehaerys himself wished for a son above all, and did not want his daughters to inherit his claim to his sister's throne. When Daenaerys was fourteen, she was sent with her mother and sisters out of Maegor's Holdfast, to live in the newly-constructed Maidenvault with other female members of court. Queen Baela and Jaehaerys, once so close, grew apart over the perceived banishment, though the Good Queen would die a year later from childbirth complications.

It was there in the vault she remained for the next three years of her life, and for the entirety of the reign of Aegon III Targaryen, her uncle, though Jaehaerys later became King after his elder brother's death. Inspiring many a song and story during her time there, Daenaerys grew resentful of her father and came to despise him deeply for his treatment of them, especially as Daenaerys was his lawful heir. Meanwhile, her father famously entertained many women as courtesans and mistresses in the hopes of having even a bastard son; he had turned his back entirely on his Velaryon wife and had refused to crown her as his Queen.

First Marriage
Upon the dawn of Daenaerys' eighteenth birthday in 178 AC, she and her sisters were presented with an ultimatum by the King; either they would marry 'men of high standing and renowned virtue', or they would remain in the Maidenvault evermore. Eager to leave, the sisters three agreed, and Daenaerys was matched with her maternal uncle, Rhaegar Velaryon, to satisfy the Velaryons of Driftmark who were displeased with Jaehaerys' treatment of Visenya. Her sisters were betrothed and married in the years subsequent, married into the houses of Manderly and Strong respectively to bind their regions to the Crown.

Daenaerys was as fertile as any young noble maiden and gave her new husband twins, same as her grandmother Queen Myrielle Peake. The elder, a boy, was named Daeron, and the younger, a girl, was named Rhaenyra. King Jaehaerys forced Daeron from Daenaerys' arms, however, and took the newborn to ward to raise as his own. Furious with a mother's grief, Daenaerys swore to return him to her care.

Minor Dances
Daenaerys was able to swiftly weaponize the mystery around her person as a result of her confinement to the Maidenvault and used it as political ammunition to begin to pressure the King to return Daeron. She proved herself a well-learned politician, and established connections to many other King's Landing nobility in her campaign to force the King to heel.

Heel he did, after three years of near-constant courtly struggle. Prince Daeron was returned to Daenaerys, who herself was pregnant with her third child. Viserys Targaryen was born that same year, 183 AC, her second son.

More children swiftly followed; 184 AC brought Viserra, and the year next for Naerys, the Queen's second and third daughters respectively. Having mothered five children in only four years, it was little surprise to Grand Maester Ormund when he bore witness to Daenaerys' first stillbirth, a boy named Rhaegar, in 188 AC. Heartbroken as any mother would be, Daenaerys grieved deeply for her deathborn son... And grew furious with Jaehaerys when he did not mourn for his grandson as she did. Her ire was turned to her husband, as well, who departed for Driftmark in his own grief. Daenaerys would go some time after to try and reconcile, and returned pregnant; Rhaegar's absence giving birth itself to a spring of rumours and murmurings about the child's paternity.

When her son came in 189 AC, this time as living and real as any of her other children, Daenaerys wanted to name him after his lost elder brother, and call him Rhaegar. Jaehaerys instead insisted beyond reasoning that the boy be named after him, and thus the realm toasted to the new Prince Jaehaerys whilst an aghast Daenaerys watched on. The boy was eventually sent to Highgarden, to be warded in the Reach.

The King Is Dead
It was no secret that King Jaehaerys and his firstborn daughter had no love for each other. He wished she was a man; she wished him a better father. The birth of Prince Jaehaerys and her father's meddling in his naming had started something that would not easily go away, however, and had opened wounds long-since stitched. Father and daughter were heard fighting into the night, just as Jaehaerys once had with his beloved sister Queen Baela when he had been her Hand.

Already she had spent most of her life with her father favouring her cousin Aemon, called 'the Dragonknight', for the throne over her. When he died in 189 AC, it only soured relations between Daenaerys and the King, for now he spoke of naming Daeron the Prince of Dragonstone, a title that rightfully belonged to Daenaerys herself.

Jaehaerys, it seemed, did not long outlive those sentiments. Famously, and much in the style of Maegor the Cruel, he was found by his Kingsguard in pieces across the Iron Throne. His Lord Commander was also found in the depths of the Black Cells, having fallen on his own sword for his failure to defend the King 'from himself'.

The Realm did not weep for Jaehearys, but instead looked to see who would inherit his throne; and all eyes were on the Princess who had been denied her birthright all her life.

Long Live The Queen
The Small Council was left with the decision of who to crown, though in truth, it was not much of a competition. With Rhaenyra the Black's abolishment of male primogeniture in the aftermath of the Dance, Daenaerys was the rightful heiress, but nonetheless the Small Council briefly examined her cousin Baelor, Aemon the Dragonknight's eldest son for the role, and Daenaerys' young son Daeron. But nobody wanted a second regency council for the boy, and Baelor did not have the immediate blood ties to King Aegon II that Daenaerys had, and that is all without accounting for the precedence of the Dance's outcome. Eventually, the new Lord Commander, Allard Templeton, and the Hand of the King, Lyonel Tyrell, swayed the Small Council to crown Daenaerys. They were later known as the 'Queenmakers'.

Daenaerys' husband Rhaegar returned from Driftmark when news of his wife's coronation reached him. He sailed into the Capital the day of and knelt at the base of her throne whilst she sat there with her eldest son on her knee, who was cheered as the Prince of Dragonstone. The Queen announced a lovely and grand procession to begin that very day, one that would take the Queen and her husband to Oldtown, where the High Septon would anoint them in the Starry Sept.

The procession was a grand and happy affair, more of an informal Royal Progress, as there was jousting, feasting, melees and contests of the strength. Daenaerys was well-loved, seen as a mother who had triumphed over a wicked father, and she enjoyed that narrative far too much to debase it. When they arrived in Oldtown, they were met with deafening crowds, whose cries were said to shake the Hightower itself when the High Septon crowned Daenaerys the Queen of Westeros.

Thanks to the true reconciliation with her husband, and the bawdy 'second wedding' they shared after her coronation in Oldtown, the Queen was as close to her new Prince Consort as she had ever been. In late 192 AC the Queen delivered her last child by Rhaegar, a daughter named Rhaegelle, born in Maegor's Holdfast during a lunar eclipse that sent holy men to prayers and whores to weeping from fear. Taken by the smallfolk to be a sign of evil, they warned that the new Princess was a cursed child, and death would follow her birth, as sure as sunrise.

Plague in the Capital
The new year heralded the Queen's third anniversary on the Iron Throne, and King's Landing grew fat from trade as a result of the prospering economy under Daenaerys. Unfortunately, it was not only silk and lace and spices carried across the Narrow Sea; an outbreak of the Shivers started in the King's Landing docks and spread from there to Flea Bottom.

The Gold Cloaks were swift on the orders of the Queen, and the gates to the Capital were shut at once; none were to leave, and none were to enter. Ravens flew to warn the nearby castles and lords to gird themselves in the event the sickness escaped King's Landing. Likewise, the Red Keep was closed and drawn, but high walls could not keep out the disease forever. Princess Aemma Targaryen, a cousin of the Queen's and sole living daughter of the Dragonknight, was taken within the day, the first victim within the Keep. She was found dead in the Kitchen Keep, and from there, the court fell into near-ruin.

The Hand of the King and the Queenmaker, Lyonel Tyrell, also perished from the disease in the Tower of the Hand. Maegor's Holdfast was next, with the Queen's husband the first of the Queen's immediate family to fall ill. The Prince Consort quarantined himself, but it was too late; soon Daeron Targaryen was shivering, and the royal nursery was locked and barred.

Daenaerys could only linger by wooden doors and alcoves as she listened to her children fear for their lives from a sickness none could stop. Rhaegar and her eldest son were taken within days, and none dared enter the nursery to recover their bodies until the Queen ordered it on pain of death. After that, it would take many weeks more to see if her other children were spared the Stranger's grasp, including the infant Princess Rhaegelle, still at a wet nurse's breast.

By the time the Shivers did finally relent, nearly half the royal court had died, and chief among them Rhaegar and Daeron. With her eldest son dead, Daenaerys had his twin sister Rhaenyra named the Princess of Dragonstone. Her husband was buried at sea with his ship the Seadragon; her son was cremated and his ashes sent to Dragonstone in Targaryen tradition.

Sole Rule
For two more years following the outbreak Daenaerys ruled alone. Lord TBA, the Queen's loyal sworn sword and companion from her earliest days outside of the Maidenvault, was made the Hand of the Queen in the wake of Lyonel Tyrell's demise. Daenaerys' attention went from her family foremost to the Realm foremost; she went about repairing the goodwill her father had tarnished during his rule of Westeros, and set about improving the Seven Kingdoms in a myriad of ways.

The most notable event of her two years of sole rule was the birth of Daemon Waters. Baelor Targaryen, her cousin and the son of the Dragonknight, was already a man known to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. And yet, many were still shocked to hear he would stoop so low as to seduce and bed his grieving cousin. Though he got her with child, his efforts to marry her and become her King failed. Instead, the Queen delivered her first and only bastard, and passed him off to a nurse near-instantly. He was the only child she never took a personal interest in raising.

It was also during her sole rule that Daenaerys expanded the Small Council. The Speakers were introduced as advisors to the Queen, allowing the Seven Kingdoms she governed to have a nominal voice in their affairs at the monarchy's table. Though some japed at the new size of the Small Council, the wisdom of the Speakers when it came to the granular affairs of the regions they hailed from proved invaluable in expanding the Queen's understanding of the land she ruled. Even as Queen, her scholarly side never waned.

In the interest of continuing such a line of evolution, the Queen the commencement of her first Royal Progress. It was a modest one, only intending to visit the Riverlands, the West, the Reach, the Stormlands and the Vale, as she intended to return to the Capital sooner instead of later, and had no Dragons to grace far-off Kingdoms with.

First Royal Progress
For the Queen's first Royal Progress, every glory and precaution was taken. The Queen's youngest child, at the time, was Princess Rhaegelle, a girl of two. And though she was swift with learning her words and toddling around the Red Keep, she was not hale enough for a journey across the realm. By contrast, her elder brother by three years, Prince Jaehaerys, readily accompanied the travelling Royal Family; though, as it was later recognized, it was because he was being given to House Tyrell to ward.

Other Targaryens remained, as well, though most of them were cousins. The Queen's progress truly began in the Riverlands, visiting many a lord's castle along the Trident before coming upon Riverrun, where Lord Oswald Tully, the Lord Paramount for a mere two years, hosted a tourney in her honour.

After days of feasting and entertainment, the Queen's caravan moved on to the Westerlands, being hosted by the Leffords of the Golden Tooth first, and then every West house after seemed determined to outshine them. It culminated in a splendid Lannisport affair with mummery, mock battles and more tourneys.

From there they took the Sea Road, travelling along the very western edge of Westeros into the Reach. It was past the new year by the time they reached Highgarden and were treated to yet more festivities, and made the announcement that young Prince Jaehaerys would remain whilst they moved on to the Stormlands.

With each region toured, the caravan of courtiers grew exponentially. It was not just professional court-goers but motley jesters, hedge knights, bards. Wherever the flag of Targaryen flew, men and women alike flocked.

The tourney at the Rainport, the foremost port of trade in the Stormlands, proved to be the height of thrill during the progress. The Queen had, up until that point, not been asked for her favour, at least publicly. It had been nearly an unspoken nod of deference that none would be so brazen. That changed in the Stormlands, when, stunning the lists into silence, Ser Durran Dondarrion marched up to the royal box on his charger, and presented his lance to the Queen.

After a short exchange, the Queen aided her young daughter in tying her favour to Dondarrion's lance, and herself left her erected throne to present the knight with a necklace of silver and opal, and bade the Knight to swear that he would only return it to her a victor.

Ser Durran won both the joust and the melee of Rainport that stormy evening, to thunderous cheers. Rain-sopped and victorious, Ser Durran presented Queen Daenaerys with the laurel of lilacs and lavender, proclaiming her the Queen of Love and Beauty. Later that evening, on all accounts, the Stormlander received summons to return the token as promised.

After that tourney, Durran joined the royal host on their progress, and scarce left the Queen's side.

First Assassination Attempt
It was during the progress, and following the Rainport tourney, that the Queen experienced her first assassination attempt of her reign. It was the farewell feast, the night before they were to raise sail from Rainport to the Vale, landing at Gulltown. A servant, later claimed to be of Rhoynish descent-- A claim later derided, but ultimately believed by the Queen as an attack 'by the Dornish' --rushed the dais with a knife, intending to harm the Queen's royal person. Ser Durran, seated next to her as the guest of honour, famously defended the Queen before even her Queensguard could react, with a single mighty swing of a silver dinner platter.

The assassin never admitted a master or motive even under the pain of royal torture. Deeply troubled, Durran Dondarrion never left the Queen's side after his heroics.

Second Marriage
Shortly after the Tourney of Gulltown, news flooded each corner of the realm of a royal wedding; Daenaerys Targaryen would, as expected, take Durran Dondarrion as her second consort. Breaking with tradition, Durran would be named her 'King Consort', as opposed to 'Prince Consort', and the couple sailed to King's Landing for a royal wedding. Married in the Red Keep's sept by the Queen's own septon. The very same year, the Queen delivered Durran's first son, Prince Lyonel, to the jubilation of the realm. They toasted to the boy's health, boasting that their Queen was blessed by the Mother Above with love and children.

In early 196 AC the Royal Family departed for Oldtown, where Princess Rhaenyra, the Princess of Dragonstone, was to marry Owen of House Costayne, in all the splendor of the Starry Sept. By the time the family returned to King's Landing, both the Queen and her daughter were pregnant; Daenaerys for the nineth time, and Rhaenyra for the first time. Whilst Rhaenyra delivered twins, Daenaerys had her daughter Elenei, who quickly became the darling of the court. Durran took to Daenaerys' children from her first marriage very well and also became fast friends with her Queensguard. Lord Commander Allard Templeton in particular took to hawking and hunting with the new King Consort in the Kingswood. Durran was even reported to spend time with Daenaerys' bastard son Daemon, even if she did not herself.

The reign of Daenaerys and Durran was peaceful and prosperous, all could agree. Durran was more warrior than politician, but spoke his mind to his wife when necessary, and was often said to be the Council's best hope at persuading the Queen away from a dangerous course of action. And there was hardly a harsh word said against the honorable man, who had the respect, admiration and friendship of many across the Seven Kingdoms.

Second Assassination Attempt
When Daenaerys announced her third pregnancy with Durran, it came with the presumption that it would likely be her last. The Queen was growing older, and soon would reach the age where a woman's fertility fell. What none expected, however, was that the Queen would have a second attempt on her life made whilst pregnant for the last time.

Poisoned whilst at dinner with her husband, the Queen was bedridden for two months as she battled the poison and a difficult pregnancy. It was sheer luck that Daenaerys survived, as it was commonly believed that the poison had not had a high enough dosage to outright kill her. Durran was a constant companion at her side throughout the confinement, and was present for the birth of Orys Targaryen, the Queen's final child, as well. Famously, Daenaerys wandered into her first council meeting after her poisoning half-dressed, and presided over the meeting in this indecent state, intent to return to work at once.

And, once more, this assassination attempt was ultimately attributed to unknown 'Dornish' perpetrators. Whether or not that was true is ultimately unknown, but the belief of such is often cited as a fresh catalyst for the Queen's future conquest.

The Conquest of Dorne
Daenaerys' conquest of Dorne is the most infamous part of her reign. She invaded the principality in 208 AC following two suspected assassination attempts, and eventually won the war through the blood of her family and the blood of Dornishmen shed.

Though the Queen was never on the campaign herself, and instead remained in King's Landing for the entirety of the war, Daenaerys did have some involvement and that of her family. She sent her husband Durran to the campaign with the sword Dark Sister in hand, her son Viserys, the wielder of Blackfyre to protect him as his Queensguard. Her sons Daemon Waters and Lyonel Targaryen also went as Durran's squires, and her cousin & onetime lover Baelor the Bastardmaker took his bastard brood to Dorne as well.

Ultimately, though the campaign led to victory, to Daenaerys it was a bittersweet one. Her son and husband were killed on the march home, and Daenaerys did what she could to make Dorne pay for the loss by stripping them of their glories and forcing them to kneel to Jacklyn Caron. House Yronwood was rewarded richly for their service with a Princess and a dowry, with Naerys Targaryen being wed to the Wardens of the Stone Way in thanks for their treachery to their countrymen. And though a hostage from House Martell would henceforth remain in the Capital, to ensure the loyalty of the former rulers, none of it would not bring Durran back to her.

Public Withdrawal
Without him, Daenaerys was inconsolable. They had loved eachother deeply and Daenaerys fell into a mourning so deep most days she did not leave her chambers. Rule of the realm fell to her longstanding Hand, Arthur Crane, and her daughter Rhaenyra, who stepped in as Princess of Dragonstone to guard and guide the realm as her mother grieved. Daenaerys was reported to be heard weeping deep in Maegor's Holdfast, for all the children and loves she had lost in her life.

Orys, her youngest son, became her companion during this time. He would read to her and make sure she ate, and otherwise kept her company as she tried to process her grief. She wrote to Oldtown often, corresponding with the High Septon himself, who offered some religious comfort to the Queen.

It must have had some effect, as three years past the Dornish Conquest, the Queen announced that she would be constructing a new Sept to replace the one atop Visenya's Hill. It would be named the Great Sept of Aegon, to honour the Conqueror and his sisters who had founded their line. Shortly after, the Queen also reinvested The Queensguard, giving them rainbow cloaks to honour the seven holy colours of the Faith. Though it was a positive sign, the Queen still remained in relative confinement for another two years.

Second Royal Progress
At the start of 215 AC, Queen Daenaerys made the proclamation that she would be commencing her second official Royal Progress. It would begin at Harrenhal in the Riverlands, and be heralded in with masques, feasts, and a tournament worthy of the Realm's finest competitors.

Appearance
Daenaerys is a woman of stoic grief. Wrinkles have etched themselves into her skin as though carved there by a sculptor, and it is not a surprise to mistake her from having finished fresh weeping due to the common redness in her face and eyes. She is taller than the average woman, and lean, perhaps even teetering on spindly for her age. She often wears her stark white hair back in intricate braids, and is most oft seen sporting the ruby-and-Valyrian crown of Aegon the Conqueror himself.

Her eyes are a vivid and dark purple, and she normally dresses in mourning black silk, and robes of plush violet velvet when she is not feeling so melancholic; a rare sight. Her voice, however, is as sharp as the blades of the Iron Throne and commands a room near-immediately, for even after five years of withdrawal from the court, there is still the unmistakable aura of power, refinement, and above all; control. Grappled control with herself, and iron-clad control of those around her. Unlike her father, there is no mistaking the blood and glory of Old Valyria shining in the Queen.

She has been often compared to her grandfather King Aegon II Targaryen, whom she takes after greatly in terms of appearance.

Personality
A scholar from a young age, Daenaerys always demonstrated an aptitude for politics and rule, spending her years alone reading and learning all she could of the world beyond the walls of the Red Keep. Exceptionally well-learned for her sex and status, Daenaerys came into her own after her marriage and release from the Maidenvault; proving herself to be an exceptional politician in practice as in theory. A protective mother, the Queen's love of her children is well-known across Westeros as well, coinciding with her tendency to care fiercely and deeply for those important to her. Her long-running sorrow for children lost even before the Conquest and it's grievances is also infamous.

Two attempts on her life throughout her reign also left her with suspicions and paranoia to those around her, and thus she trusts rarely.

Following the Dornish Conquest and the loss of her husband, however, the Queen has well and truly changed. Some claim she has always seemed somewhat different, ever since her imprisonment as a girl, but it simply had gone unseen until now. Indeed, the Queen had been known to be unreasonably suspicious leading up to the Conquest, and her deeply-running grief and sorrow after it had concluded was well-known, paralyzing enough to see her influence as Queen falter.

With the love of her children also comes with a certain love of control. Daenaerys abhors the concept of relinquishing power or prestige for or to anyone, a sentiment that began with her father, King Jaehaerys, exercising much of his own control over her as a girl. Indeed, she seems to relish in keeping the members of her House in line, laying out neat rows for them to form into -- And casting them aside when they do not.

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