This analysis compares two of the most dangerous rebels in Targaryen history, Daemon Blackfyre and Daemon Targaryen, to determine who posed a greater threat to the Seven Kingdoms, concluding that Daemon Targaryen was ultimately more dangerous due to the scale of destruction he caused and his inherent ruthlessness.
Mind Map
クリックして展開
クリックしてインタラクティブなマインドマップを確認
When you think about the most dangerous
rebels in Targaryen history, two names
immediately come to mind. And
interestingly, they share the same first
name. Demon Blackfire and Demon
Targaryen. Both legendary figures who
challenge the established order, both
warriors of extraordinary skill, and
both men who left the Seven Kingdoms
drenched in blood. But here's the
question that's been burning in the
minds of fans for years. Which of these
two demons was actually more dangerous?
Which one posed a greater threat to the realm?
realm?
Today, we're going to dive deep into the
lives, the rebellions, and the legacies
of these two formidable princes to
determine once and for all who truly
deserves the title of Westeros's most
dangerous rebel. Before we begin
comparing these two legendary figures,
we need to understand who they were and
what made them so formidable. Let's
start with the earlier of the two, Demon
Blackfire. Born as demon waters around
170 AC, this man was the bastard son of
King Aegon 4th Targaryen. Known to
history as Aegon the Unworthy and
Princess Dana Targaryen. Now being a
bastard in Westeros usually means you're
destined for a life in the shadows. But
Targaryen on both sides, which gave him
all the classic Valyrian features. The
silver hair, the purple eyes, the kind
of looks that made people stop and
stare. But more importantly, he had
something that set him apart from every
other bastard in the realm. He had his
father's favor. When Demon was just 12
years old, King Aegon IVth did something
unprecedented. He kned the boy and gave
him Blackfire, the ancestral Valyrian
steel sword of House Targaryen. He was
steel sword of House Targaryen. the very
blade that Aegon the Conqueror had
wielded. This wasn't just a gift. It was
a statement. In Westerosi culture,
swords carry immense symbolic weight.
And Blackfire was the sword of kings. By
giving it to his bastard son instead of
his legitimate heir, Darren Aegon was
essentially saying, "This is the son I
favor. This is the son I believe
deserves to rule." From that moment
forward, people began to look at Damon
differently, and he took the sword's
name for his own, founding House
Blackfire with a reverse Targaryen
sigil, a black three-headed dragon on a
red field instead of red on black. Demon
Blackfire grew up to become exactly what
his supporters hoped he would be, a
warrior without equal. Contemporary
accounts describe him as tall, powerful,
with broad shoulders and a flat, hard
stomach. When he fought, it was like
watching a god among men. With sword,
lance, or flail, he could best any
knight. But with blackfire in his hands,
he was absolutely unstoppable. People
compared him favorably to legendary
warriors like Aean the Dragonite, and
some even said he surpassed them. He had
the training having been taught by the
best masters at arms in the Red Keep,
including the fierce Sir Quentyn Ball
called Fireball. He had the looks,
the charisma, and most importantly, he
had that sword. But it wasn't just
martial prowess that made Damon
dangerous. He had legitimate grievances
and a claim that many people found
compelling. His father had legitimized
him on his deathbed along with all his
other bastards. And rumors had
circulated for years that King Darren
II, the man who actually inherited the
throne was not really Aegon's son at
all, but rather the product of an affair
between Queen Duras and her brother, the
legendary dragon knight. Whether these
rumors were true or not didn't really
matter. What mattered was that people
believed them, or at least wanted to
believe them. Add to this the fact that
Darren too had made peace with Dorne,
bringing them into into the seven
kingdoms through marriage, and you had a
perfect storm of resentment. Many lords,
especially those from the Reach and the
Stormlands, who had fought Dorne for
generations, saw this as a betrayal.
They looked at scholarly, diplomatic
Darren with his Dornish wife and Dornish
looking heir. And then they looked at
demon who embodied everything they
thought a Targaryen king should be and
they made their choice. The first
blackfire rebellion erupted in 196 AC
and it wasn't some minor uprising. This
was a civil war that quite literally
split the realm in half. Now it's true
that none of the great houses officially
declared for demon. The Aarens,
Lannisters, Baratheons, Tullies, and
Tyrells all supported King Darren, but
many of their vassels did not. Lords and
knights from across the seven kingdoms
flocked to Demon's banner, and for over
a year, the realm burned. Demon proved
to be not just a great warrior, but a
capable military commander. He minted
his own coins, administered his own
territories, and led his forces with
skill and determination. The rebellion
culminated at the battle of Redg Grass
Field in 196 AC. One of the bloodiest
battles in Westerosi history. At
Redgrass Field, Demon Blackfire proved
why he was so feared. When the battle
began, he led a charge so ferocious that
it shattered the Targaryen vanguard. He
came face to face with Sir Gwen Corbre
of the King's Guard, who wielded the the
Valyrian steel blade, Lady Forlororn.
Their duel lasted nearly an hour and
despite Corbre being one of the greatest
knights in the realm, Demon defeated
him, even showing mercy by ordering him
carried from the field to prevent him
from being trampled. This was Demon at
his peak. Unstoppable in single combat,
leading from the front, inspiring his
men through sheer force of presence. But
then came the moment that changed
everything. Brynden Rivers, another of
Aegon 4's bastard sons who had remained
loyal to Darren, had positioned his
elite archers, the Raven's Teeth, on
Weeping Ridge overlooking the
battlefield. When Demon's eldest son and
heir, also named Aegon, was struck down
by arrows, Don rushed to his aid. As he
knelt beside his dying son, more arrows
fell. Seven of them found Damon and the
Black Dragon fell. When his twin son,
Aean, tried to take up Blackfire, he too
was killed. The rebellion collapsed,
though Demon's half-brother, Aigor
Rivers, called Bittersteel, managed to
escape to the free cities with Blackfire
and Demon's remaining sons. But here's
what made Demon Blackfire truly
dangerous. It wasn't just the rebellion
he led. It was the legacy he created.
His death didn't end the Blackfire
cause. For five generations, for over 60
years, his descendants and supporters
would rise again and again, causing five
separate rebellions. The second, third,
fourth, and fifth Blackfire rebellions
would continue to plague the Targaryen
kings, draining resources, causing death
and destruction, and keeping the realm
in a constant state of tension.
It wasn't until Sir Barristan Selme
killed me the monstrous, the last male
Blackfire during the war of the nine
penny kings that the threat finally
ended. Demon Blackfire's rebellion
created a wound in the realm that took
five generations to heal. That's a
measure of how dangerous he was, not
just in his lifetime, but in the legacy
of chaos he left behind. Now, let's turn
our attention to the other demon, demon
Targaryen, the rogue prince, born around
81 AC. This demon was the second son of
Prince Balon Targaryen and Princess
Alyssa Targaryen, making him the younger
brother of King Viseris I. Unlike demon
Blackfire, this demon was legitimate. He
was a trueborn prince of House Targaryen
with a direct line to the throne. He
claimed the dragon Caraxis, known as the
blood worm, one of the most fearsome
dragons of his age. He wielded
Darksister, another ancestral Valyrian
steel sword of House Targaryen, the
sword that had once belonged to Visenya
Targaryen. And just like Demon
Blackfire, he was an extraordinary
warrior, perhaps the most skilled and
experienced of his entire generation.
But what made Demon Targaryen different
was his nature. Where Demon Blackfire
was pushed into rebellion by
circumstances and supporters who
convince him to claim the throne, Demon
Targaryen was naturally rebellious,
unpredictable, and dangerous from the
very beginning. He earned his nickname
the rogue prince. Through years of
scandalous behavior, he was appointed
commander of the city watch of King's
Landing and transformed it into a
formidable force loyal to him
personally. He briefly served as master
of laws and master of coins, but
administrative roles didn't suit his
temperament. His relationship with his
brother Viseris was complicated,
swinging between genuine affection and
bitter rivalry. The breaking point came
when Viseris's wife, Queen Amma, died in
childbirth along with their newborn son,
Prince Balon. On the very night of the
baby's death, Demon was found drunk in a
brothel, making jokes about the heir for
a day. When this reached Viseris, the
king was furious. He stripped Damon of
his positions and named his daughter
Rayanira as heir instead, effectively
removing Damon from the line of
succession. This is where Demon
Targaryen's danger truly becomes
apparent rather than accept his
diminished position. Damon went into
exile. But he didn't just sulk in some
castle. He launched a military campaign
in the Stepstones against the Triarchy,
a coalition of the free cities. Over
several years, he fought a brutal war.
And when he finally won, he crowned
himself king of the Stepstones and the
Narrow Sea. This wasn't rebellion in the
traditional sense. He wasn't directly
challenging Viseris for the Iron Throne,
but he was establishing his own
independent kingdom, proving that he
didn't need his brother's approval to be
a king. Eventually, he laid his crown at
Viseris's feet. But the message was
clear. Demon Targaryen would not be
contained or controlled. The real test
of Demon's danger came with the dance of
the dragons, the Targaryen civil war
that erupted after King Viseras's death
in 129 AC. By this time, Demon had
married his niece, Ryanira Targaryen,
the designated heir, making himself not
just her husband, but her most important
military commander and political
adviser. When Viseris died and Rayanir's
half-brother, Aeen II seized the throne,
Demon was the one who placed the crown
on Rayanir's head at Dragonstone and
styled himself protector of the realm.
What followed was one of the most
devastating conflicts in Westerosi
history. A war that would see the near
extinction of dragons and the deaths of
countless members of House Targaryen.
Demon's actions during the dance of the
dragons revealed the full extent of his
ruthlessness. When Rayanara's son,
Lucarus, was killed by Aean Targaryen at
Storm's End, Demon arranged for revenge
in the most horrific way imaginable. He
hired two assassins known as Blood and
Cheese to infiltrate the Red Keep and
murder a child of the royal family in retaliation.
retaliation.
These assassins found Queen Helena with
her children and force her to choose
which of her sons would die. Young
Prince Jerice was then brutally murdered
in front of his mother. This act, which
became known as blood and cheese, was
arguably one of the most heinous crimes
committed during the entire civil war.
It showed that Demon was willing to
target innocent children to achieve his
goals, that there were essentially no
limits to what he would do. But Demon
was also a brilliant military
strategist. He took Harrenhal early in
the war, securing a strategic
stronghold. He executed Sir Veyan
Valarion with a single stroke when the
man challenged the legitimacy of
Rayara's sons. Throughout the conflict,
he demonstrated that he was not just a
great warrior, but a man who understood
power and how to wield it. His forces
won significant victories, and his very
presence on the battlefield, riding
caraxes and wielding Dark Sister was
enough to inspire his own troops and
strike fear into his enemies. The end of
demon Targaryen story came at the battle
above the god's eye. One of the most
legendary confrontations in Westerosi history.
history.
Demon lured his nephew and rival Amund
Targaryen who rode the massive dragon
Vagar to single combat above the god's
eye lake. In a suicidal but spectacular
final act, Demon leaped from Caraxis
onto Vagar's back and drove Dark Sister
through Aean's eye, killing him
instantly. Both dragons, mortally
wounded in their aerial battle, plunged
into the lake below, taking both riders
with them. Demon's body was never
recovered, leading some to speculate
that he somehow survived. Though most
historians believe he died in that final
glorious moment of vengeance. Now let's
compare these two legendary figures
directly. When we look at Marshall
Prowess, both men were extraordinary
warriors. Demon Blackfire was described
as unmatched with a sword and his
hour-long duel with Gwane Corbre at
Redgrass Field is legendary. Demon
Targaryen was equally skilled, described
as the most experienced warrior of his
time, and his combat record includes
countless victories both in single
combat and in larger battles. On this
metric, they're essentially equal. Both
were among the greatest fighters of
their respective eras, and both wield
wielded Valyrian steel blades that
became extensions of themselves. But
when it comes to military leadership and
strategic thinking, Damon Targaryen has
a clear advantage. While Damon Blackfire
led his forces competently during the
first Blackfire Rebellion and won
several engagements, his military career
was relatively short, lasting just over
a year from the start of open warfare to
his death at Redgrass Field.
Demon Targaryen, on the other hand, had
decades of military experience. He
fought for years in the Stepstones,
learning how to command troops, manage
logistics, and win a protracted campaign
against determined enemies. During the
dance of the dragons, he demonstrated
sophisticated strategic thinking,
securing key strongholds like Harrenhal,
coordinating with allies, and making
decisions that had long-term strategic implications.
