Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was a legendary Targaryen prince and Kingsguard member renowned for his piety, martial prowess, and unwavering sense of duty, making him a beloved figure whose stories resonate even centuries later.
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aan the Dragon Knight is one of the most
famous characters in the inworld history
of A Song of Ice and Fire mentioned more
than 30 times in the main series and
counting but who was he and why is he so
important let's take a look hi everyone
this is Robert welcome to indeep geek on
this channel well if you've been here a
while you know the rest of this intro so
let's move on and if you're new welcome
and this video is another collaboration
with the wonderful history of westros
please do check out their amazing
YouTube channel and podcast there's a
link in the
description in Bran's second chapter in
the first book we find him daydreaming
about stories of Knighthood and that
someday he'll be in the King's Guard a
few chapters later R sansa's first and
she too is thinking of her favorite
stories daydreaming of chivalry and
romance it's easy to forget how young
they are after all they've gone through
since then how many of those stories
have since come to life in ways that are
anything like the stories children dream
of bran endearingly reminds us of his
youthfulness at one point by referring
to the tal Sansa prefers as kissing
stories while he favors those that
center around battles only one character
appeals to both of their preferences at
the same time only one who checks off
all the boxes for both bran and Sansa
while also inspiring singers historians
Knights Romantics or anyone who loves a
good story a legend one of the most
famous in all the history of Westeros
Prince Aon the Dragon
Knight Prince aan Targaryen was born in
136 to Prince viseris Targaryen and Lara
rer of the free city of lease a city
rooted deep in Valyrian culture Prince
viseris was only 13 or 14 when Aon was
born a young father even by Wester Rosy
standards and this wasn't even his first
as aon's brother Aon preceded him by
about half a year it is reported that
Aon the future of the aegon IV not yet 2
years of age was found beating his
infant brother with a dragon's egg a
portent for their relationship going
forward and quite ominous to the realm
at large given that the dance of the
Dragons had ended only 5 years prior if
targarian princes are already fighting
in the Cradle what would they do in 20
years as adults with hatched and grown
dragons though aon's relationship with
his brother was never easy thankfully
the realm never found out what they
would like with Dragons within two
decades there were no more dragons at
all for House Targaryen but there was a
dragon knight a nickname that came from
the distinct three-headed dragon Helm
and Crest he wore and it wasn't just a
dangerous sounding Monica he grew up to
be the finest sword in the realm
knighted at age 17 and given dark sister
to wield by his uncle King aegon
theii a lot changed for House Targaryen
in this era not only were the Dr dragons
gone but most of the adult targaryens
were killed in the dance or died soon
after this led to a need to
rejuso of exceptionalism penned in the
time of the Old King jeris that stated
that the targaryens didn't have to live
by the rules of the seven like everyone
else they were different and didn't have
to obey the rules everyone else did when
it came to incest polygamy and ruling
why well because dragons that's why a
simplified version of the argument was
spread about the seven clearly are okay
with how the targaryens live because
they'd strike them down otherwise so
they can marry each other and do all
their Valyrian dragon lord business and
that's that anyone who pushed the
argument further would find themselves
at a literal dead end why well because
dragons that's why you can't argue with
that but that logic clearly collapses in
a Dragoness world the basis for their
exceptionalism was gone House Targaryen
wasn't done for however and got ahead of
this critical problem through two
Central methods one by embracing the
seven to a degree much greater than
before and two by proving they were
still a military force to be reckoned
with even without dragons both of these
qualities were embodied to their utmost
Perfection by Prince aan the Dragon
Knight he was apparently as Pious as he
was dangerous qualities that led him to
be named to the King's Guard at an early
age and eventually Lord
Commander his brother aegon was
dangerous too though not so much as a
warrior and he was not Pious at all
however their sister nerice there were
the three siblings was also as devout as
they come were told she loved the seven
and she loved her brother aan and he
loved her in return but it was Aon whom
she had to marry and Aon who eventually
became king and if anything he had the
opposite qualities he was cruel greedy
and nothing sacred about matters of
Faith or anything really this was after
all the king who became known as Aon the
Unworthy but we're getting a little
ahead of ourselves for although his
relationship with his siblings is
Central to understanding Aon Aon was the
last of five Kings in whose Kings guards he
he
served the longest reign of the five was
Aon III who sat on the throne for 26
years during that Reign nerice married
aegon as she was expected to and near
the end of that long tenure she gave
birth to her first child it was the
year3 and they named him Daren he would
eventually be crowned Darren II only
four years later aegon III died and his
son Darren I 1 was crowned so yes that
means that there were two darons and two
aons at the same time here Targaryen
naming conventions can get confusing
though that would not last long because
King Darren I First's Reign was short
almost as soon as he was crowned he set
about invading Dawn he loudly stated
that they didn't need dragons and proved
it somewhat there was no doubt about
prince aan in all this who distinguished
himself in the war by fighting alongside
the king who apparently LED from the
front at least sometimes this would have
been quite a sight to see since King
Daron wielded Blackfire in battle and
Prince aan wielded dark sister side by
side the two targaryan blades dealt
death to dornishman in the Deep deserts
but Dawn was not intimidated by dragons
so why would they fear swords even fancy
Ones Still their bravery and expertise
in local Warfare was not sufficient this
time they realized they could not defeat
Daran and Aon and the rest in open
combat after all and turned to other
means a poisoned Arrow was fired at King
Daron at some point but the Dragonite
blocked it with his own body he managed
to survive but it seems to have being
close he had to return to King's Landing
to heal while he was out of action the
dornish threw off the iron thron's yoke
revoking their forced surrender and
resuming the war Darren was quick to
respond and by the time his army was
prepared Aon was ready to fight by his
side again Darren's strategic abilities
were as exceptional as his support staff
and it wasn't long before the dorish
sued for peace a second time they asked
to meet and discuss terms Darren agreed
but it was a trap the dornish used the
parlay as a cover for an ambush and
though the Dragon Knight slew two foes
this time their assassination attempt
succeeded King Daren lay dead on the
field with two other King's guards slain
at his side Prince Aon did not die
beside his King though it's not unlikely
he felt it to be exactly what he
deserved he was captured and held in
captivity by house will a house known
for their extreme violence especially
towards house targar
it was they who made Oris barathon into
Oris one hand you can recall that Oris
got his revenge on the son of the Lord
will who did that to him by removing not
just the one hand but the other and his
feet it would not have been a surprise
then to see house will further the cycle
of Violence by maming Prince aan in a
similar manner instead they hanged him
in a crow cage in the desert above a pit
of vipers he may not have known it at
the time since his captors probably kept
it to themselves but help was on the way
the source of the help may not have been
unexpected but the means Were King Daren
was quite Young when he died and had no
children so the throne passed to his
brother Balor and the new king Balor
immediately set out to atone for his
brother's War by walking from King's
Landing all the way to sunspear Barefoot
with a peace offer to be sealed via
marriage at last the realm could be
United by peaceful means instead of
Conquest Prince aan thus must have been
as stunned as he was horrified when he
saw King Balor walking towards his cage
intent on freeing him despite the danger
of the Vipers this is a man who was
willing to die to save his king and the
stakes were much higher this time
because if Bor the Blessed died before
the peace treaty could be agreed to
there would be no peace at all House
Targaryen would surely go to war again
if a dornishman slew King Balor he
managed to talk Balor into leaving him
that his life surely wasn't important
enough to risk Another fullscale War
bayor reluctantly agreed but assured
them all that he would return and he did
he went all the way to sunpar where the
marriage of Prince Darren and Princess
miria Martell was agreed to and then he
turned around and walked all the way
back now keep in mind most of dawn
didn't want Bay Lord dead they'd lived
through a number of aggressive targaryan
monarchs invasions dragons Etc you'd
think they'd like the idea of a pacifist
neighbor for once and from what we're
told quite a few in Dawn saw the wisdom
in that but house will is different they
were told to leave bayor be but kept to
the letter of that order rather than the
spirit of it Aon knew this but this time
there was no talking bayor out of a
rescue attempt the wills of course
didn't try to stop him they just laughed
and handed him the key and bayor walked
straight up to the cage to unlock it
apparently unconcerned with the V ERS
around his feet but they were certainly
concerned with him and he was repeatedly
bitten before he managed to unlock the
cage with Aon in it aan had been starved
and left to waste away for weeks if not
months but his King was collapsing now
in front of him from those snake bites
somehow he cloned to the top of the cage
while holding bayor over his shoulder
and jumped clear of the pit an
astonishing feat given how fatigued and
weak he must have been after so much
exposure but wherever he found that
strength he had enough left to continue
North after jumping he had no time to
rest the King was dying of
poison thankfully bayor recovered over
the next 6 months and it must have been
a great relief to the realm and Aon
himself and most of Baylor's Reign
appears to have been a positive time for
the Dragon Knight though his rule was
erratic and many decisions
ill-considered there was no war Aon
however probably had other things on his
mind as his sister nerice who he loved
remember despite her being married to
his brother delivered stillborn twins in
the first year of Baylor's Reign though
she was in ill health and spirits after
this and never robust in the first place
Aon continued to press her for more
children King Balor intervened in a
manner of speaking by choosing Aon to go
on an ambassadorial mission to
braavos this was likely when aan was
raised to Lord commander of the King's
Guard as well his predecessor was
probably slain in Dawn perhaps during
the Ambush par
aan and NYS were thus free of their
awful brother for a spell while he
predictably fathered more children in
Bravos by this time aegon already had a
number of bastards and he was nowhere
near finished on that account there were
so many that we can't even be sure of
the number on the other hand when bayor
died after a 10-year Reign he had no
children at all he had famously shunned
a marriage to his sister Dana and fasted
himself to death after she had aasted
with another man who whom she refused to
name years later it was revealed that
aegon himself was the father of this
child called Damon Waters only to be
later renamed Damon Blackfire but in the
short term it made the hand of the King
viseris II the new king but his Reign
lasted less than a year and a half so
aegon the man with so many bastards in
turn became the new king Aon IV and in
quite an astonishing example of
hypocrisy early in his reign aegon
started accusing his sister wife queen
nerice of infidelity herself claiming
that their son Prince Darren was not his
at all but to the child of the Dragon
Knight to add to the confusion aegon
didn't start making these accusations
until Prince Darren was a full-grown man
of perhaps 20 and he never technically
removed him as his Heir which he surely
would have done if he had proof so did
aiman break his vows with nerice the
truth is we don't know just because King
Aon was an awful man doesn't mean he's
lying here and even if Aon is not the
father of Daren it doesn't mean that Aon
and NES didn't have a romantic
relationship they clearly did care very
deeply about each other there are
clearly some rich parallels here in A
Song of Ice and Fire aan and nerice were
brother and sister King's Guard and
queen like Loris and margorie tyel in
both cases the queen was protected by
her valorous brother in part from the
King himself self but aegon I four would
have us believe that they were more like
Jaimie and Cersei to be fair this does
fit pretty well given how much Robert
Baratheon has in common with Aon the
Unworthy and these are targaryens we're
talking about meaning they aren't
disgusted by incest like most people
still both aan and ner seem to have been
highly Pious individuals and it appears
that they were the sincere sort not the
cynical type perhaps they slept together
just before thees enforced marriage to
Aon in a moment of weakness Daren was
the result and aan joined the King's
Guard shortly after by way of penance we
don't know but that would make sense
perhaps even they never knew for sure if
Darren was theirs and Aon only started
the rumors when he started thinking
about the succession himself and
compared Darren to his own grown-up
bastard children we'll probably never
know for sure in any event it all came
to a head when King aon's catspa sir
moril hawick made a formal accusation
against nerice Prince Aon was quick to
challenge this accusation and slew sir
morgel in a trial by combat a major
backfire for King aegon now in the sight
of Gods and Men Queen nar's innocence
was proven as was aon's even a king
can't overrule the gods perhaps Aon
would have been better to get a better
fighter to accuse nerice even in middle
age the Dragon Knight was
fearsome one other time aan entered
attorney as a mystery Knight so as to
name nerice the queen of love and beauty
he supposedly did this because his
brother was planning on giving the
Laurel to one of his Mistresses which
would be a bit of a slap in the face to
his queen aan of course won the Tony and
nar's honor was
protected it is stories like these that
appealed to both bran and Sansa years
later so let's tell one more to
underline the character of the man one
day King aegon IV Came Upon one of his
Mistresses Bethany Bracken a bed with
one of the white cloaks s Terren toin
King Aon had the Knight pulled apart
slowly while forcing Bethany to watch in
Revenge C terrance's Brothers ambushed
the king Aon the Dragon Knight was there
to save his King's life again and died
in the process he appears not to have
hesitated for a second despite the fact
that the man he died to protect was
arguably the worst King in the history
of Westeros had consistently harmed the
woman he loved and slandered her Aon had
sworn an oath and to him that meant more
than the man on the throne it
represented a standard for others to
follow the King's Guard doesn't choose
the king they protect him Prince Aon was
a man of Duty and a knight of the King's
Guard who dies in battle while
protecting the king can be said to have
truly fallen in the line of duty that
and the fact that he was success
uccessful in His Last Stand helps
explain why he is arguably the most
beloved and heroic member of House
Targaryen in World almost everyone seems
to talk about him in an almost AED reverential
reverential
way we may have more nuanced views of
him but in the story even the young
members of house Stark seem to love
Prince aan the Dragonite more perhaps
than any of their own ancestors of
legend or recent memory the sheer weight
he carries in A Song of Ice and Fire
despite having been dead for so long is
compelling enough but we're sure to see
even more parallels emerge in the long
run as the rest of the story unfolds as
well as the Jamie and Cersei Echoes
there's also maester Aon of course who
was named after aan the Dragonite and
also chose Duty over love but to know
more we'll have to wait for blood and
fire AKA Fire and Blood part two which
will cover the period Prince aan lived
it's even conceivable we'll see him with
dark sister and his famous three-headed
dragon Helm on TV someday we can but
hope for both if you'd like to see more
videos like this diving deep into George
ARA Martin's World Of Ice And Fire
there's a playlist now on the left of
your screen or to support this channel
thank you there's a link to my patreon
page on the right of your screen that's
all for this time thanks for watching
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