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The Blacks, formerly known as the party of the Princess, are major characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and the main protagonists of the television adaptation House of the Dragon.
They were a political faction in the court of King Viserys I Targaryen who are in favor of the succession rights of his firstborn child Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, by his first marriage to his first wife Queen Aemma Arryn, but were met with opposition from the Greens, who favored King Viserys' firstborn son, Prince Aegon Targaryen, by his second wife Queen Alicent Hightower, to seize the Iron Throne, even though King Viserys had named Rhaenyra his heir. Following his passing, when the Greens successfully seized power and had crowned Aegon as King Aegon II Targaryen, this caused the Blacks to retaliate by forming their own council called the Black Council and crown Rhaenyra as Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen, thus leading to the beginning of the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, where Rhaenyra and Aegon II fought each for control of the Iron Throne.
During the civil war, Rhaenyra, similarly to her half-brother, King Aegon, created her own sigil to represent the Blacks; Unlike the Greens' sigil, which depicts the three headed Targaryen dragon but golden in color and breathes golden flames on a black background, the Blacks' sigil continues the traditional usage of the red-three headed dragon but was quartered together with the sigil of House Arryn, to honor the lineage of Rhaenyra's late mother Queen Aeema, and the sigil of House Velaryon, in honor of the family of her first husband Ser Leanor Velaryon, who are major supporters of the Blacks. The most prominent and leading factions of the Blacks are House Targaryen (Rhaenyra's faction) and House Velaryon (for most of the war). Other prominent factions are House Arryn, House Tully, House Greyjoy, and House Stark.
In the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, following the deaths of both Rhaenyra and Aegon II, peace was made between the Greens and the Blacks under the ascension of Rhaenyra's apparent last surviving son King Aegon III Targaryen, whose regency before his coming of age saw a small council and a council of regents made of both former Greens and Blacks, by then their respective political parties had been permanently disbanded.
History[]
During his reign, King Viserys I Targaryen had three children by his first marriage to his first wife Queen Aemma Arryn but out of the three, only Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys' only daughter, survived. Prior to Rhaenyra's birth, her mother had suffered multiple miscarriages and only two sons where able to survive but were tragically short-lived, with Aemma's firstborn son dying in the cradle while her second son, Prince Baelon, perished a day after his mother died giving birth to him. Having no sons of his own, Viserys began grooming Rhaenyra as his heir, in which she participated in court meetings with the small court and in discussions of the affairs of state, which many took note on.
Shortly after his wife's death, King Viserys, disregarding precedents from 92 AC and 101 AC, named his daughter as his heir and hundreds of lords and knights payed obeisance to her. However, in 106 AC, he remarried, with his second wife being Queen Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, Viserys' Hand of the King. In 111 AC, during the opening feast of a great tourney on the fifth anniversary of Viserys and Alicent's marriage, while Rhaenyra dressed in the traditional colors of House Targaryen, Alicent, her step-mother, wore a green gown in the event. From then on, during conversations regarding the respective political parties of Rhaenyra and Alicent, it became custom to refer to them as "Blacks" and "Greens".
A few years later in 114 AC, Rhaenyra's position as her father's heir was strengthened when Viserys married her to Ser Laenor Velaryon, the son of Lord Corlys Velaryon and his wife Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Viserys' cousin. It was rumored that Rhaenyra's marriage to Laenor caused her to have falling out with her sworn shield Ser Criston Cole, who also serves as a member of the Kingsguard. This was due to rumors that Criston is Rhaenyra's lover, as he was believed to have declared his love for her. Through her marriage with Leanor Velaryon, Rhaenyra gave birth to three sons, Princes Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey, however, it was whispered amongst the Greens that they are not the sons of Ser Laenor but Ser Harwin Strong, who, like Ser Criston, is also rumored to be a lover of Rhaenyra. This was because, Jace, Luke and Joff were born with the signature brown hair and brown eyes of House Strong, which led to the belief that they are born out of wedlock.
After Laenor was mysteriously murdered by his own lover Ser Qarl Correy, Rhaenyra remarried when she took her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen, the younger brother of King Viserys, as her second husband. Their scandalous marriage caused outrage throughout the realm, due to it being too soon. In anddition, it has only been a few months since the death of Laenor and Lady Laena Velaryon, the first wife of Daemon, and half a year hasn’t even passed. As the marriage was done without King Viserys’ knowledge, when the latter learned of it, he too was enraged, and he declared it to be an insult to Laenor and Laena’s memory. Through her second marriage, Rhaenyra bore two sons, Aegon and Viserys. Unlike her three eldest sons, the two babies have the traditional Targaryen looks, with it being silver/platinum hair and purple eyes. As Rhaenyra had given the name Aegon to her first child by Daemon, this infuriated Queen Alicent Hightower, as she considered it to be a slight on her firstborn son, who is also named Aegon. To distinguish the two Aegons, the Aegon born from Rhaenyra was nicknamed Aegon the Younger while the other Aegon born from Alicent is nicknamed Aegon the Elder.
In the past, Rhaenyra and Alicent initially had a good relationship with each other but it soon soured when both of them tried to become the realm's First Lady and there could only be one. As a result, both women developed an animosity for each other. This sour relationship consequently caused both the Blacks and the Greens to hate each other, with Ser Otto Hightower disliking Prince Daemon since the start of Viserys' reign, due to Daemon's reputation as the Rogue Prince. The enmity between the Blacks and the Greens even passed onto Rhaenyra and Alicent's children; Aegon the Elder, Prince Aemond Targaryen, Princess Helaena Targaryen and Prince Daeron Targaryen came to resent Jace, Luke and Joff, their own cousins, as they believed that as their aunt had been named their father's heir, their birthright had been stolen from them.
Though the sons of Rhaenyra and Alicent were forced to attend the same feasts, balls and revels as well as training and studying together under the same master-at-arms and the same maesters, the children's mutual hatred only worsened and they came to despise each other even more.
One night at Driftmark, when Prince Aemond attempted to secretly mount the dragon Vhagar, even though his forbade him to, he was caught by Prince Joffrey Velaryon, but a fearful Aemond shouted at him to be quiet before shoving him into a pile of dragon droppings, causing Joff to start crying loudly, making Aemond more fearful than ever and he immediately rushed to Vhagar and climbed on her back. After successfully flying her around the towers of High Tide a few times, he was immediately confronted by Joff again, this time he was accompanied by his older brothers, Jacaerys and Lucerys. A brawl soon followed and during the skirmish, Aemond mocks his nephews by calling them "Strongs". The brawl ended when Lucerys slashed out Aemond's right eye with a knife. This incident, caused the hostilities between the Blacks and the Greens to intensify, as both Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent sought vengeance.
Though King Viserys tried to make peace between the two factions by having each of the boys apologize with each other which did not please their respective parents, with Alicent demanding for one of Lucerys' eyes to be gouged out as compensation for his actions, Rhaenyra, refusing this, retorts back by insisting that Aemond should be sharply questioned until he revealed on where he heard his nephews being called "Strongs". Under pressure from King Viserys, Aemond tells hi that his brother Aegon is the one who told him that Jace, Luke and Joff are Strongs. Prince Aegon only responded by saying, "Everyone knows. Just look at them". Immediately putting an end to the questioning, Viserys I decreed that anyone who would dare mock his grandsons as "Strongs" again will immediately have their tongues removed with hot pincers.
Dance of the Dragons[]
Prelude[]
On the third day of the third moon in 129 AC, the ailing King Viserys passed away in his sleep when he went to take a nap. His body was discovered by a serving man during the Hour of the Bat and he immediately Queen Alicent Hightower, who proceeded to lock the servant away so as to keep her husband's death a secret from the public, as both her and the Greens sought to crown Alicent's firstborn son Prince Aegon as king, due to strictly following the traditional Andal custom of having a son succeed over a daughter. This was also to be done without Princess Rhaenyra knowing of it, as she was away on Dragonstone with her family, due to awaiting the birth of her sixth child. Queen Alicent has Ser Criston Cole, how her sworn shield, summoned the small council to her apartments. The now-formed Green council planned to install Aegon the Elder on the Iron Throne, but was opposed by Lord Lyman Beesebury, the only court member who continue to support Rhaenyra's claim, and he insisted that King Viserys had chosen his daughter as his heir and therefore she should be crowned queen. He refused to change his mind despite pleas from Alicent and the other court members. As Lyman is about to leave, what happened next is of dispute, but despite this, he became the first casualty of what would later become known as the Dance of the Dragons.
Following Lyman's death, other supporters of Rhaenyra were then arrested by Criston on Alicent's orders before going to find Prince Aegon the Elder, who was nowhere to be found. Based on Mushroom's account, Aegon was found in Flea Bottom while Septon Eustace claimed that Criston found him in a respectable situation with the daughter of a trader. According to Eustace's account, Aegon rejected the crown, as he acknowledged his aunt Rhaenyra as his father's heir but was dissuaded by Criston, who warned him with the lie that Rhaenyra will kill him and his sons, Princes Jaehaerys and Maelor if he doesn't take the Iron Throne. This was said to have made Aegon relent. The coronation of Prince Aegon was hastily prepared while Alicent sent her son Prince Aemond to secure the support of House Baratheon and its head, Lord Borros Baratheon, by offering him a marriage pact where he will agree to marry one of his four daughters in exchange for his support. Aegon's coronation took place at the Dragonpit and he was crowned with the Valyrian steel crown of Aegon the Conqueror by Ser Criston Cole, who would come to be known as the Kingmaker.
On Dragonstone, Princess Rhaenyra flew into a rage upon learning of her half-brother's coronation. The stress emitting from the rage, caused her to go into early labor and she gave birth to a deformed and stillborn girl, whom she named Visenya. According to Mushroom, Rhaenyra, in her fury, had cursed Visenya during childbirth and even called her a monster. Upon emerging from her mother's womb, the stillborn Visenya proved to be indeed monstrous in appearance with dragon-like defects while also having a stubby tail and a hole in her chest where her heart should have been been. It was said that Mushroom had brought Visenya's body out to be cremated. Rhaenyra proceeded to blame the death of her daughter on the Greens and swore revenge.
Rhaenyra assembles her own small council dubbed the Black Council with its official members consisting of herself, her husband Prince Daemon, Rhaenyra's three eldest sons, Jace, Luke and Joff, Lord Corlys Velaryon and his wife Princess Rhaenys, and several others. During the Black Council's first meeting, some participants made the suggestion of immediately launching an attack on King's Landing, as they had observed that the amount of combat-sized dragons (nine tamed dragons and three wild dragons) outnumbers the Greens' dragons (that being Vhagar, Sunfyre, Dreamfyre and Tessarion) but Rhaenyra refused, pointing out that the Blacks only have five dragon riders available and as she herself hasn't recovered enough to ride her own dragon Syrax, the three other available dragonriders are her three eldest sons.
