With ‘House of the Dragon’ Nearly Here, Let’s Remember Another Infamous Targaryen, The Mad King
He's just a king but he's on fire.
The Targaryens come from a long line of conquerors and rulers—with their dynasty checkered with both madness and greatness because, as they say, when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. But perhaps no Targaryen looms over the timeline of A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones like the Mad King. Although already deceased in both versions, the Mad King is still the subject of whispers and fears and makes up for a large part of both iterations’ lore. With House of the Dragon just right around the corner, let’s get to know the Targaryen who quite literally played with fire, and who also happens to be the dynasty’s last king, Aerys II.
Appearance
Like all the Targaryens (save for Jon Snow, of course, if you subscribe to the events of Game of Thrones’s final season), Aerys had silver hair and purple eyes. He was handsome in his youth and was also undeniably charming. However, following a kidnapping during the Defiance of Duskendale, he would become paranoid and slowly begin a descent into madness. From there, Aerys began refusing to wash and trim his beard and nails. His once glorious hair became matted while his nails grew into talon-like claws. Out of fear of being poisoned, he also became very thin and gaunt and often ended up wounding himself whenever he sat atop the Iron Throne. So much for the Targaryen looks.
Early life
Aerys’ grandfather was Aegon V (better known as Aegon the Unlikely for ascending to the thrown despite being the fourth son of a king), who surprisingly was against incestuous marriages and encouraged his children to marry for love. Despite this, Aerys’ father Jaehaerys demanded that he marry his sister Rhaella, due to a prophecy from a woods witch saying that the product of their union would bring forth the legendary Prince That Was Promised. (For the millionth time, don’t listen to witches who come out of the woods to give you a prophecy. I don’t care how nice they seem, it never turns out well!) And so the match was made, and the sibling-spouses were miserable.
During his youth, Aerys would also befriend who would, later on, become his closest confidante, Hand, and eventually, his enemy: Tywin Lannister, along with Steffon Baratheon, the Lord of Storm’s End. Tywin had served as a page in the royal court and became fast friends with the prince. In fact, after the War of the Ninepenny Kings, Aerys even chose to be knighted by no one else but Tywin. Sweet.
The Tragedy at Summerhall and His Ascension
Now, bear with me, because this one is a bit of a doozy with all the names involved. The Tragedy at Summerhall is important to Aerys’ backstory because if it hadn’t happened, then he probably would have never been king. We have yet to know the full details of the tragedy, but the books so far reveal that it had happened after Aegon V had been attempting to hatch dragon eggs at Summerhall with his son and heir, Prince Duncan. A great fire broke out (although some theorize and speculate that someone must have set the place on fire without them knowing it), and father and son perished. Jaehaerys took the throne while Aerys was with his sister-wife, for his son Rhaegar was born on the same day (hence his deep connection to the tragedy in the books).
Jaehaerys would succumb to an illness a few years later in 262 AC, passing the throne to Aerys and signaling what would be the end of the reign of the Targaryen kings.
Tywin and Aerys
To be completely fair, Aerys had a good start. Remember, he wasn’t always the Mad King. Upon his assumption of the throne, he replaced many old faces in court with younger men like himself. Cue: Tywin Lannister. By then, Tywin had a reputation for putting his family’s enemies in their rightful places (‘The Rains of Castamere’ anyone?), and, given their relationship and history, it only made sense for him to be named Hand. He settled the crown’s problems with the Iron Bank, appeased the high lords and ladies, built important structures, and, all in all, kept everyone happy. As they say in Westeros, what the king dreams, the Hand builds. And Tywin was doing just that, making him the perfect man for the job. Some might even say too perfect. Rumors began to swirl, and eventually take hold, that Tywin was the true king, not Aerys. Naturally, this story did not sit well with the latter, causing a souring in their relationship. This was not helped by the fact that Aerys openly lusted after Tywin’s wife Joanna, his refusal to marry off his son, Prince Viserys (the dude Khal Drogo gives a crown of molten gold in the HBO show, although you probably already know that), or his heir, Prince Rhaegar, to Cersei, and ultimately, his decision to bestow Tywin’s favorite son the honor of becoming a member of the Kingsguard, but more on this later.
Throughout his years as Aerys’ hand, Tywin did his best to take everything in stride and turn a blind eye toward his childhood friend’s cruelty. He continued to do so despite Aerys’ deliberate attempts at making his job more difficult than it already was. When Tywin advised him to do one thing, Aerys would do the exact opposite, which now leads us to the Defiance of Duskendale.
The Defiance of Duskendale
The Defiance of Duskendale is, essentially, the primary reason behind Aerys’ madness and is a significant turning point because if things had gone the other way, as Ser Barristan Selmy himself once put it, history would not have panned out the way it did.
Lord Denys Darklyn of Duskendale had ambition. He made a proposal to the crown for a charter for Duskendale to be made, which was refused by Lord Tywin. At this point, the entire realm was slowly starting to learn about the bad relationship between Tywin and Aerys, and Lord Denys took advantage of this by directly going to Aerys himself. Initially, Aerys was inclined to reject the proposal as well but upon being advised by Tywin to decline, he did a 360 and decided to settle the dispute personally and even go to Duskendale himself with an escort. Long story short, it was a trap, and he ended up as a hostage for six months. Naturally, Tywin Lannister did not take this sitting down and busted his boss out. All that were involved were of course executed brutally and Aerys was never the same.
His Descent Into Madness
After his rescue, Aerys refused to leave the Red Keep and was suspicious of everyone—his courtiers, Tywin most of all, and his own son and heir, Rhaegar. Steffon Baratheon was called to return to court and join his small council, as well as everyone’s favorite master of whispers, Varys. It was at this point his fascination for wildfire came to be, as well as the marriage of Rhaegar to princess Elia of Dorne, which was marked with a lavish ceremony he refused to attend out of fear of being assassinated.
Aerys would not step a foot outside of the Red Keep until the Great Tourney at Harrenhal, which was a surprise to everyone in the realm. The decision came after growing factions pitting him against Rhaegar were slowly taking hold. It was also made to gather, once again, the support and love of his people, which was a tall order considering, by this point, he was a living corpse of the man he once was and mostly just scared the living crap out of everyone who saw him at the event. Everyone loved Rhaegar, though, and Aerys thought all the cheers for his son were actually for him (they were not). It was during this event that Jaime Lannister was officially inducted into the Kingsguard, severing, once and for all, his ties with Tywin, who resigned and left for Casterly Rock. It’s important to note that the Kingsguard is an order, and they are made to serve for the rest of their lives (not their king’s), and so, by making Jaime a member of the said order, Aerys essentially stripped Tywin of an heir. Remember, this guy hated Tyrion for not being fully able-bodied and Cersei for, well, being a woman. Tywin sucks in that regard.
It was during this tourney that Rhaegar crowned Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love and Beauty and the following year, the two “disappeared,” triggering what would become the War of the Usurper or Robert’s Rebellion, depending on which side you’re on.
Robert’s Rebellion and The Sack of King’s Landing
Following the disappearance of Lyanna Stark, her eldest brother, Brandon, marched to King’s Landing with several companions and demanded for Rhaegar to come out. He was met by Aerys, who demanded that their fathers come south and answer for what he deemed was a crime against the crown. Once there, Lord Rickard Stark demanded a trial by combat, to which Aerys infamously agreed and declared fire to be his champion. Brandon was forced to watch with a strangulation machine attached to his neck as his father was consumed by the flames, all while his windpipe was crushed. After this, Aerys sent word to the Eyrie and demanded the head of both Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon, Lyanna’s next brother, and her fiance, respectively. The Lord of the Vale, Jon Arryn, refused to give up his wards and instead called his banners and marched to King’s Landing.
Meanwhile, Aerys had changed Hands several times after Tywin left, with the last one being his pyromancer, Rossart. After Rhaegar fell in the Trident to Robert’s warhammer, the Mad King sent away his wife and Viserys to Dragonstone (Rhaella was pregnant with Daenerys at this time), while Rhaegar’s wife and children were kept with him in the Red Keep to keep Dorne loyal to him (but we all know how that ends).
As the rebels march closer and closer to King’s Landing, Tywin Lannister makes a comeback and reaches the capital first, asking to be admitted at the gates. Both Varys, and no less than Jaime Lannister himself, tell the king not to admit Tywin. Pycelle disagrees and says that Tywin can be trusted. Aerys decides to believe Pycelle and so, the sacking of King’s Landing began.
Seeing that the tide was now against him, Aerys tells Rossart to set the city ablaze and for Jaime to bring him his father’s head. And again, we all know how it ended: a sword to his back brought about by the knight he thought would keep him safe.
His last words? Burn. Them. All.
(featured image: HBO)
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