| “ | You have a dragon. He stands before you. | „ |
| ~ Daeron to his Councilors. |
King Daeron I Targaryen, also known as the Young Dragon and Daeron the Dragon, is a major character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
The eldest son of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon. Daeron I was the 8th Targaryen King to rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and ascended the throne at the age of fourteen. His reign was one of the shortest in Westerosi history, lasting from 157 AC to 161 AC. King Daeron was famously known for his ambitious military campaigns and his successful conquest of Dorne, though it proved to be short-lived. He died at the age of seventeen or eigtheen, leaving no issue.
Daeron was the older brother of King Baelor I and Princesses Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena. His sister Daena was the mother of Daemon I Blackfyre, which makes Daeron the latter's uncle.
Biography[]
Daeron I was born in 143 AC to King Aegon III Targaryen and his wife, Queen Daenera Velaryon, as their firstborn son. Prince Baelor Targaryen is Daeron's younger brother, who would eventually become King Baelor the Blessed in the future. Daeron also has three sisters, Princesses Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena. After his birth, his father named him his heir, earning Daeron the title of Prince of Dragonstone. After the death of Aegon III in 157 AC, the former ascended the Iron Throne and was crowned king at the age of fourteen, becoming Daeron Targaryen, the First of His Name. When he became king, he wore the Valyrian steel-and-ruby-studded crown of his ancestor, King Aegon I Targaryen, who is well-known as Aegon the Conqueror.
The Conquest of Dorne[]
After his ascension to the throne, Daeron felt that Dorne's independence represented unfinished business for his family. Wanting to rectify the mistakes made by Aegon I, who made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Dorne during his reign, Daeron desired to annex the region and finally unite all Seven Kingdoms as one under the rule of the Iron Throne. He initially faced opposition from his uncle and Hand, Prince Viserys, and other councilors, who noted that Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters had failed to conquer Dorne twice with dragons, and now there are none left, as the last of them died during the reign of Aegon III, thus rendering them extinct. However, King Daeron was undeterred, and he famously replied, "You have a dragon. He stands before you." Together with his cousin and Master of Ships, Lord Alyn "Oakenfist" Velaryon, Daeron began devising his plans for his conquest of Dorne, and he showed great promise as he also revised the mistakes made during the First Dornish War.
King Daeron divided his forces into three parts, leading the first one himself through the Boneway. Learning from the mistake made by the late Orys Baratheon, he led his forces through goat paths in order to bypass any ambushes and traps. Lord Lyonel Tyrell invaded through the Prince's Pass with the second part of the army, while Alyn Oakenfist and the royal fleet, through a naval assault, seized control of the Greenblood and broke the Planky Town with the third army. As a result of these separate attacks, this separated the Dornish forces, thus preventing them from giving aid to one another. A series of battles followed, and within a year, Daeron's army finally arrived outside the gates of Sunspear, the ancestral seat of House Martell, the ruling house of Dorne. During the submission of Sunspear in the year 158 AC, the unnamed Prince of Dorne and forty of the most powerful Dornish lords bent the knee to King Daeron, who became the first Targaryen king to successfully conquer Dorne and completely unify all of Westeros.
He then spent his time consolidating his control over the region by eliminating rebels that still continued to cause trouble. When an assassin attempted to assassinate Daeron through the usage of a poisoned arrow, this was thwarted by one of the Kingsguard, Prince Aemon Targaryen, famously known as the Dragonknight, and he was hit instead, causing him to be sent back to the Red Keep to recover. In 159 AC, King Daeron returned to King's Landing, and he left Lord Lyonel Tyrell in charge of keeping the peace. 14 highborn Dornish hostages were taken to ensure Dorne's loyalty, and they were escorted to the Red Keep by Aemon the Dragonknight, who had recovered.
Daeron's successful conquest of Dorne became the subject of popularity in Westeros, and many accounts were written on the event, with one book even written by King Daeron himself titled, The Conquest of Dorne. While Daeron's account was written with elegant simplicity, Prince Doran Martell would note years later that Daeron I had exaggerated the strength of the Dornishmen to make his writing of his victories sound grander.
Open Rebellion[]
Though Dornish hostages were taken to the Red Keep to ensure the loyalty of the Dornish, the smallfolk living in Dorne stubbornly resisted, and they continue to rebel against Targaryen rule. Because of the newly-risen dangers, Lyonel Tyrell was forced to move his train from one keep to another for each next month, and they would chase away rebels or punish those who gave them support. The Dornish rebels eventually attacked and looted his train.
However, open rebellion began when Lord Tyrell, during his stay at Sandstone, the seat of House Qorgyle, found himself in a bed with a velvet canopy that seemed to look heavy. He was then informed that he could summon a wench by pulling on the sash. This is soon revealed to be a devious trick, as when Lyonel pulled on the sash, this caused the canopy to open, revealing a hundred red scorpions, which then fell upon him. With his death, this caused all of Dorne to rise in rebellion, and in just a fortnight, all of King Daeron's efforts in seizing control of Dorne had been undone.
Meanwhile, Daeron intended to wed one of his sisters to the Sealord of Braavos, hoping that this would form an alliance in order to remove pirates from the Stepstones, the island chain between Westeros and the Free Cities. However, as the free city of Braavos was at war with Pentos and Lys, this proved to be crucial, as the Pentoshi encouraged the Braavosi and Lysene to lend aid to Dorne.
A year later, in 160 AC, King Daeron, wielding the Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre, returned to Dorne and won several battles through the Boneway, while Lord Alyn Velaryon once again descended on the Greenblood and the Planky Town. During the battles, Rickon Stark, the son and heir of Lord Cregan Stark, was one of the notable people that were killed.
Death[]
Death of Daeron I.
Another year later, in 161 AC, the Dornishmen agree to a peace term and renew their fealty to the Iron Throne. However, King Daeron was unaware that it was all a trick and a ploy so he could be killed. While under a peace banner, the Dornishmen dishonorably betrayed and murdered Daeron along with three of his Kingsguard, while one yielded. Aemon the Dragonknight was soon captured and taken prisoner by House Wyl, whose members are notoriously renowned for their barbaric cruelty.
Legacy[]
| “ | Jon: Daeron Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne. Benjen: A conquest that lasted a summer. Your Boy King lost ten thousand men taking the place, and another fifty trying to hold it. Someone should have told him that war isn't a game. |
„ |
| ~ Jon Snow and Benjen Stark on Daeron's legacy. |
With the death of King Daeron I Targaryen, this brought a complete end to his conquest of Dorne, which lasted for only a summer. While it's said that 10,000 men died during the conquest, many more were killed trying to hold it. According to Grand Maester Yandel, Daeron lost over 40,000 men during the three years after the conquest was complete, but according to Benjen Stark, it was actually 50,000.
As the conquest was undone, Dorne successfully regained its independence, which lasted for 40 years until 187 AC, when the region was peacefully brought into the fold through a marriage pact. King Daeron's body was returned through a market town in the Stormlands, where it stayed for three days. The smallfolk living there wept in grief over Daeron's death, causing the market town to be named the Weeping Town. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Prince Viserys, in retaliation for the king's death, has all the Dornish hostages thrown in the dungeons to await their execution. Moreover, because Dorne had betrayed King Daeron while under a peace banner, this caused anti-Dornish sentiment to increase, as many Westerosi lords sought vengeance.
However, the newly-crowned King Baelor the Blessed desired peace with Dorne, proceeded to pardon, and forgave the assassins responsible for Daeron's death. In Oldtown, the city had erected a statue of the late King Daeron in his honor. The statue depicts Daeron astride a tall stone horse, with his sword lifted in the direction of Dorne. Grand Maester Kaeth recorded Daeron's reign in his book The Lives of Four Kings, in which he analyzed that the Young Dragon's intent to wed one of his sisters to the Sealord of Braavos is considered to be a mistake despite his reasons to have pirates removed from the Stepstones. While Daeron I was considered mad by others, he was also considered great, as he was idolized by his wild sister, Princess Daena Targaryen, and Jon Snow would much later see King Daeron as one of his heroes.
Robb Stark, the eldest son of Lord Eddard Stark, bore similarities to Daeron I; both are crowned king at a young age, and they have similar comparable nicknames to each other, with Robb being called The Young Wolf and Daeron being called The Young Dragon. In addition, both have great intellect on military strategies, had never lost a single battle, and they both died after being betrayed.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to George R.R. Martin, the second volume of the prequel novel Fire & Blood will feature Daeron I's entire reign and describe him as a fourteen-year-old Alexander the Great kind of hero-king figure, since the historical figure Alexander the Great serves as the main inspiration for Daeron I.
- King Daeron became the last Targaryen King to wear the crown of Aegon the Conqueror, as it would be lost in Dorne following Daeron's death.
