Otto Hightower

Ser Otto Hightower is a knight of House Hightower and the Hand of the King to King Viserys I Targaryen.

Biography

Otto is the younger brother of Lord Hobert Hightower and the father of Gwayne and Alicent Hightower. He is the Hand of the King to Viserys I Targaryen and considers the king's brother and heir Prince Daemon Targaryen to be the greatest threat to the realm.

House Of The Dragon: Season 1

Nine years into the reign of King Viserys, Otto attends a meeting of the small council. Lord Corlys Velaryon informs the council that the alliance in the Free Cities known as the "Triarchy" is trying to claim the Stepstones. The Sea Snake warns that Westerosi ports could be negatively affected, but his concerns are dismissed by Otto and the king. Otto swiftly turns the discussion to the more joyous topic of the upcoming Heir's Tournament which the king has planned for the approaching birth of his next child and hopeful son. Later that night, Otto is present when Grand Maester Mellos and Maester Mickon are attending to an infected wound on the king's back. Otto instructs Mellos to keep the affliction a secret.

That same night, Prince Daemon leads the City Watch in hunting down the criminals of King's Landing, rounding them up en masse to face summary justice. At the small council meeting the following morning, Otto protests that the public measures were too excessive and that he cannot be allowed to act with such impunity. Otto demands that Daemon account for his actions; Daemon defends himself by stating that he followed the king's laws, and with most of Westeros's nobility coming to the king's tourney, it was a justified action to ensure their safety. Otto then says that Daemon should put as much effort into his marriage as his work with the gold cloaks, as Daemon hadn't been seen with his wife Rhea Royce at Runestone, or even in the Vale of Arryn, for a long time. Daemon insults his wife, and when Otto responds to defend her honor, Daemon states that he would be happy for his wife to share Otto's bed as his own wife has so recently passed. Otto furiously rises to his feet at the affront, but Viserys defuses the argument, bidding Otto not to rejoin his brother's provocation. Otto begrudgingly complies.

The following day, Otto sits beside the king in the royal box as the Heir's Tournament commences. Otto whispers to Viserys that he could have Lord Boremund Baratheon's tongue cut out after he called Princess Rhaenys the "Queen Who Never Was," but the king dismisses it as harmless. Otto is further provoked by Daemon as he picks as his first opponent in the joust his eldest son Ser Gwayne Hightower, defeating Gwayne in the second tilt by tripping his horse. Daemon then asks for and receives Otto's daughter Alicent's favor. As the tournament continues, a maester arrives and informs Otto about Queen Aemma's difficult labor, with Otto then promptly telling Viserys and both leaving the tourney grounds. Otto then later returns to notify members of the small council of the news of the birth of Prince Baelon Targaryen and the death of the queen.

Otto attends the funeral of Queen Aemma and Prince Baelon.

At a small council meeting, Otto presses Viserys to set his succession firmly in order for the stability of the realm. With Baelon's death, Daemon is now once again Viserys's heir presumptive, but Otto, with the support of Grand Maester Mellos, is adamant that Daemon is too ambitious and insists that Daemon has the loyalty of the City Watch. Viserys responds that his brother may be ambitious but has no ambitions for the Iron Throne itself because kingship wouldn't suit him, and responds to Otto's complaints that Daemon's command of the City Watch effectively gives the prince a private army by pointing out that it was Otto's idea to give Daemon the command in the first place, as Otto had complained when Viserys named his brother Master of Laws that he was a tyrant, and then Master of Coin that he was a spendthrift. Otto concedes the point, but asserts that in his opinion Daemon should be kept far away from any power, as he could be a second Maegor the Cruel or worse. When Lord Lyonel Strong asks who else would have a claim, Otto suggests the king's firstborn child Rhaenyra. Viserys refuses the notion of choosing between his brother and his daughter, so Corlys offers an alternative: his own wife Rhaenys, which Otto dismisses as Corlys had already declared his support for Daemon. The discussion ends abruptly when Viserys berates his small council for behaving like crows squabbling over corpses while he is still mourning his wife and son.

Later within the Tower of the Hand, Otto sends for his daughter Alicent and he gives a message to Grand Maester Mellos to be dispatched by raven to Oldtown. Otto embraces his daughter, comforting her and asking after Rhaenyra, then suggests that Alicent might offer her condolences to the grieving king in his chambers, telling her to wear one of her mother's dresses. Later that evening, at a pleasure house on the Street of Silk, Daemon hosts a party for his subordinates in the gold cloaks and several of his cronies. Otto reports these events to Viserys at a small council meeting the following morning, insisting that his sources claim Daemon dubbed Baelon the "Heir for a Day" and that it was a celebration.

Otto and his daughter are in attendance at the ceremony naming Rhaenyra as Princess of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne.

Five months later, Otto attends a meeting of the small council. He has assisted the new Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Ser Harrold Westerling in choosing a number of candidates to come to court to fill the vacant seventh slot in the Kingsguard left by the death of Ser Ryam Redwyne. Lord Corlys storms into the council chamber announcing four Westerosi ships have been lost passing through the Stepstones, with Otto replying that the crown will compensate him and the families of the crews. When Corlys brings up that the pirates have no fear of Westeros because Daemon's occupation of Dragonstone with his army of gold cloaks hasn't been responded to by the crown, Otto warns him that he may have a seat at the council table but he is not the king's equal. Princess Rhaenyra interjects suggesting to use dragonriders to take the Stepstones, but with Otto's urging Viserys orders her to inspect and choose from the prospective replacements for Ser Ryam Redwyne instead.

In Maegor's Holdfast, Otto arrives as Harrold presents the candidates to Rhaenyra. Otto instructs Rhaenyra on what to say to them, as she had so far not been interacting with any of them. Otto protests when Rhaenyra picks Ser Criston Cole for the vacancy, stating that a more politically valuable candidate should be chosen, which Rhaenyra rejects.

Otto is in the chambers of Viserys with Grand Maester Mellos attending to an infected wound on the king's finger from the Iron Throne. Otto is informed by the king that Corlys and Princess Rhaenys have put forward a marriage proposal with their daughter, Lady Laena Velaryon, and is asked for his advise. Otto states that Corlys has overreached himself and the matter should be put to the council, as well as that Laena is young. Mellos acknowledges that the match would heal the wound made at the Great Council of 101 AC between House Targaryen and House Velaryon. Otto agrees with the Grand Maester's reasoning, and then brings up the pain of the passing of his own wife and that he does not envy Viserys being forced to remarry out of duty to the realm.

Otto interrupts a private meeting between Viserys and Alicent to notify the king that he has summoned the small council. In the council chamber, one of the Dragonkeepers informs them that Prince Daemon has stolen a dragon egg, the same one Rhaenyra picked for Prince Baelon's cradle, from the Dragonpit. The king declares to Otto to assemble a detachment of guards and that he intends to remove Daemon from Dragonstone personally, but Otto insists that it is too dangerous for Viserys to go, volunteering to go in his place.

Later in his chambers, Otto is putting on his armor with his daughter's help. He asks Alicent why, as the most comely girl at court, she hurts her own hands, then inquires if she will be visiting the king tonight. Ser Criston arrives to report that he has gathered twenty of the Hand's guard and Ser Harrold will be joining them.

At Dragonstone, Otto leads the detachment along the bridge leading to the castle before they are intercepted by Daemon and his gold cloaks. Otto proclaims to Daemon that he is to relinquish control of the island and return the stolen dragon egg, disband his private army, and banish Mysaria from his side. Prince Daemon asks where the king is, to which Otto replies that Viserys would not lower himself to entertain such a "mummer's farce," telling Daemon that he is pathetic and desperate for his older brother's attention. Daemon insists he is merely following Targaryen traditions by placing an egg in the cradle of his unborn child with Mysaria. Otto retorts back that these traditions are for trueborn royalty rather than bastards. He proclaims Daemon's union with Mysaria an abomination and that he is soiling his own brother's reign. Otto calls out to the men of the City Watch who are present, asking if they wish to continue following the prince in his treason. Daemon responds they are loyal to him and challenges Otto to take the egg out of his hand, with Otto proclaiming that to do violence against the King's Hand would be to declare war on Viserys himself. When he states that a confrontation could kill Daemon's unborn child and its mother, Daemon draws Dark Sister, prompting the rest of both sides to draw their weapons too, though Otto orders his men to sheathe their swords when Caraxes appears. Before it can spiral into open conflict, Rhaenyra arrives on Syrax. Otto inquires why the princess is here and orders Criston to escort her to safety, to which Rhaenyra responds that she is here to stop bloodshed and ignores Otto's objection.

The next day Otto and his daughter are summoned to a meeting of the small council, in which King Viserys announces his intention to marry Alicent Hightower before spring's end. Lord Corlys is outraged that his own daughter has been rejected, and marches out of the council chamber after Otto gives him a satisfied look.

A year after his daughter's marriage to Viserys, she gives birth to a son, Aegon Targaryen. On Prince Aegon's second nameday, Otto joins a royal hunt arranged by Viserys. Otto is pressured by his brother, Lord Hobert Hightower, to convince Viserys to name Aegon his heir over Rhaenyra, as this would place a member of their dynasty on the Iron Throne. Otto expresses doubts that Viserys will be so easily convinced. When Ser Tyland Lannister counsels Viserys to send aid to the Stepstones, Otto steps in, reminding him that Daemon and Lord Corlys started the war without the crown’s leave, and that it would make the crown look weak to intervene now, after so long.

When the hunting party arrives at the Kingswood, Otto joins the gathered lords and ladies in applauding the king, queen, and prince as they emerge from their carriage.

Otto interrupts an argument between Viserys and Rhaenyra to inform the king that a white hart has been sighted. As the white hart is considered a symbol of royalty, Otto tries to convince Viserys that its appearance on Prince Aegon's nameday is a sign from the gods that Aegon should rule.

That night, Otto informs Viserys that the Royal Huntsman has the trail of the white hart, and has sent out the hounds. When Viserys expresses his displeasure over Lord Jason Lannister's attitude in asking for Rhaenyra's hand, Otto reminds him that Rhaenyra will do as he commands, to which Viserys replies that he has no desire to command his own daughter. Otto makes another suggestion: Rhaenyra could marry her half-brother, Prince Aegon. Viserys laughs this off, however, as Aegon is only two years old.

A stag is captured, but to Otto's disappointment, it is not a white one. Otto and the rest of the party watch as Viserys struggles to put down the captured animal. When he finally does so, all applaud him.

Later, Otto and the rest of the party watch in some surprise as Rhaenyra returns to the camp with a boar she and Ser Criston Cole killed.

After returning to King’s Landing from the hunt, Otto visits his daughter, pointing out to her how Aegon's birth has united the men, and ended fifteen years of uncertainty and doubt. He tells Alicent that she must convince Viserys to name Aegon his heir, as the realm would descend into chaos were Rhaenyra to be named instead of him, no matter how good a queen she may prove to be. Alicent is unhappy with the idea of raising Aegon to steal his sister's birthright.

When Prince Daemon returns to King's Landing, victorious after the War for the Stepstones, Otto watches suspiciously as he kneels before Viserys and gives up his crown and the Stepstones to him. Viserys embraces his brother and holds a feast in Daemon's honor, which Otto attends.

The small council meet to discuss Corlys Velaryon, and Otto informs the king that, according to his brother in Oldtown, Lord Corlys plans to marry his daughter Laena to the son of the Sealord of Braavos. This potential alliance would necessitate the crown making a marriage pact of their own.

One night, Otto is informed by a spy working for the White Worm that Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon were seen together in a pleasure house. Otto decides to inform the king, though with great reluctance. Although doing so would undoubtedly discredit both Daemon and Rhaenyra and give his grandson Aegon a clearer path to the throne, it gives him no pleasure to inform his king and friend of his daughter losing her virginity. When Otto informs Viserys, the king furiously accuses Otto of having his daughter stalked, and trying to destroy her reputation. Otto tries to deny this, but Viserys orders him out.

Otto is later summoned to the small council chamber by Viserys. The king reminds him of how his father Prince Baelon Targaryen died only five days after King Jaehaerys named him Hand of the King, after which Otto took his place. Viserys has figured out that Otto set Alicent up to be his wife after Aemma passed, but Otto insists that Alicent loves him, as he knows Viserys loves her. Viserys thanks Otto for his service to the realm, but states that his judgement is compromised, and dismisses him as the King's Hand.

Rhaenyra Targaryen

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is the daughter of King Viserys I Targaryen and Aemma Arryn. A dragonrider, her mount is the she-dragon Syrax.

Biography

Rhaenyra is the daughter and only surviving child of King Viserys I and Aemma Arryn. She rides the dragon Syrax.

Rhaenyra returns to King's Landing after riding Syrax and visits her mother Aemma, who is heavily pregnant. While Rhaenyra is not very enthused at the prospect of having her own children, her mother reminds her of her duty as a princess, and that the childbed is a royal woman's battlefield. Rhaenyra later greets her uncle Daemon in the throne room, where he presents her with a gift acquired on his recent journey; a necklace made of Valyrian steel.

Later that evening, Rhaenyra, and her friend, Lady Alicent Hightower spend time in the godswood, where Rhaenyra hopes that her unborn sibling is a boy, for the sake of her father, Viserys I's happiness, ignoring Alicent's remarks that a son would overshadow her in the line of succession.

Rhaenyra is present in the royal box when her father commences the Heir's Tournament, where he announces that Aemma has gone into labor. Rhaenyra and Alicent are intrigued by a new contender in the tournament, Ser Criston Cole, after his victories against Lord Boremund Baratheon, and another Baratheon. Rhaenyra witnesses the duel between Ser Criston, and her uncle, Prince Daemon, in which Criston emerges victorious. He then asks Rhaenyra for her favor. She then tosses down a floral wreath to him, and bids Criston good luck in the rest of the tournament. In the middle of the tournament, the spectators in the royal box are informed of Queen Aemma's death in childbirth.

Several days later, the royal court gathers outside the city walls of King's Landing for the funeral of Rhaenyra's mother, Aemma, and her infant brother, Prince Baelon. Rhaenyra bitterly ponders to her uncle, Daemon, whether her father finally found happiness in the few hours that Baelon lived, and laments that she will never make her father truly happy, as she is not a son. She then sets her mother and brother's funeral pyre ablaze, with a command of "Dracarys" to Syrax.

Following Viserys disinherits Daemon, he summons Rhaenyra to Balerion's shrine, to her confusion due to Viserys's recent lack of contact with her. Viserys then voices his intention to name Rhaenyra as his heir, and informs her of Aegon the Conqueror's vision, which he dubbed "The Song of Ice and Fire," which every legitimate heir to the Iron Throne has been informed of to ensure Westeros's readiness for the evil that Aegon foresaw. Some time later, the realm's nobility swears fealty to Viserys and Rhaenyra, and Rhaenyra is officially named Princess of Dragonstone.

Six months after her mother's funeral, Rhaenyra is tasked with filling the vacant spot on the Kingsguard, after Ser Ryam Redwyne's death. She selects Ser Criston Cole, due to him being the only knight being considered to have seen actual combat, rather than tourney fighting.

Rhaenyra and her cousin, the Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, discuss Rhaenyra's succession to the Iron Throne, and the possibility of her displacement as heir to the Iron Throne due to her sex, with Rhaenys bluntly telling Rhaenyra that the men of Westeros would sooner put the realm to the torch than allow a woman to ascend the Iron Throne.

At the small council, Viserys and Rhaenyra get word from a Dragonkeeper Elder that Daemon has stolen a dragon egg from the Dragonpit, namely the one Rhaenyra had picked out for her brother, Baelon. Despite not being given leave to go to Dragonstone, Rhaenyra flies there atop Syrax to persuade Daemon to relinquish the dragon egg, and to leave the castle. She succeeds in getting the dragon egg back without bloodshed, but fails to get Daemon to leave Dragonstone. When Rhaenyra returns to King's Landing, Viserys angrily chides her for leaving and endangering herself, though he does credit her being the only person able to retrieve the egg without bloodshed. Viserys insists that because Rhaenyra is his only heir, the Targaryen line is vulnerable, and though he insists that he will not unname Rhaenyra as his heir, even if his new wife were to give him sons, he must ensure the continuation of the Targaryen line.

At a small council meeting the next morning, Viserys announces his intention to marry Lady Alicent Hightower, which infuriates and disgusts Rhaenyra, hurt by her father and friend keeping this from her.

Three years later, Rhaenyra's relationships with both her father and Alicent, now queen of the Seven Kingdoms, have soured, and is now disinclined to listen to either of them. She attends a royal hunt with her family to celebrate the second nameday of her half-brother, Prince Aegon Targaryen. At the camp, she is proposed to by Lord Jason Lannister, to which she declines. She then gets into a terse confrontation with her father, realizing that he intends to marry her off to one of the noblemen of Westeros, causing her to run off into the Kingswood. Ser Criston Cole goes after her, and she contemplates whether the realm will actually accept her as queen.

After agreeing to get married to perpetuate the Targaryen line, she goes on a tour of Westeros to pick a lord of her choosing to wed. However, she cuts the progress short at Storm's End. Rhaenyra reunites with her uncle, Daemon, after four years, and he takes her through the Street of Silk late in the night, where she witnesses the true nature of King's Landing, and the smallfolk's opinion of her and her position in society. Rhaenyra and Daemon then go to a brothel, where Rhaenyra witnesses the pleasures of sex. She and Daemon then proceed to couple together, but Daemon is rendered impotent and leaves her in the brothel. Rhaenyra, still sexually aroused, seduces Ser Criston Cole, and loses her virginity to him.

Rhaenyra and Daemon are seen together by a Lyseni boy, who brings word of this to Mysaria. Mysaria then orders the boy to inform Otto Hightower, who in turn brings the news to Rhaenyra's father Viserys. Alicent, who overheard the conversation between Viserys and Otto, confronts Rhaenyra about this, but she vehemently denies the allegations against her and Daemon. Viserys then confronts Rhaenyra about this, and to avoid scandal, he orders Rhaenyra to wed Ser Laenor Velaryon. She reluctantly agrees, on the condition that Viserys dismisses Otto as his Hand. That night, Grand Maester Mellos, at Viserys's behest, gives Rhaenyra moon tea as a precaution.

In the books

In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra was the daughter of King Viserys I, and his only child to survive the cradle by his wife, Aemma of House Arryn. Viserys's younger brother Daemon was his closest male heir, but many at court felt he was so unruly that he was unfit to sit the throne, so Viserys officially named Rhaenyra his heir. This decision was controversial, as it contradicted the principle of male-preference proximity which had put Viserys himself on the throne, instead of his older first cousin Rhaenys Targaryen (who according to primogeniture should have been the heir).

Rhaenyra was therefore raised expecting to one day sit the Iron Throne herself, becoming somewhat pampered and arrogant, though also receiving an education in government as befitting the heir to the throne. From an early age, Rhaenyra regularly sat at the foot of the Iron Throne while her father held royal court, and her father also regularly brought her to meetings of the small council. A precocious young girl, in her childhood she was known as "the Realm's Delight". The year before her mother died, Rhaenyra also become a dragonrider, claiming Syrax as her mount. One of Rhaenyra's personal tics was also that she tended to nervously play with her hands (or the rings on them) when she was thinking.

Alicent Hightower

Queen Alicent Hightower is the second wife of King Viserys I Targaryen and daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King.

Biography

Alicent Hightower is the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King. She has a number of brothers, the eldest being Ser Gwayne Hightower. From an early age, she has lived in the Red Keep and grown up among the royal family.

At the Dragonpit Alicent greets Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who has just returned from a ride on her dragon Syrax. Rhaenyra asks her if she would like to accompany her on dragonback sometime, but she politely declines. Alicent travels with the princess back to the Red Keep by carriage. Alicent and Rhaenyra pay a visit to a heavily pregnant Queen Aemma in her chambers.

Later that day Alicent tries to go over a history book with Rhaenyra in the godswood of the Red Keep but at first she isn't interested, until Alicent brings up the approaching birth of King Viserys and Queen Aemma's child which she states could overshadow her and displace the princess's position in the line of succession, if it's a boy. Alicent is shocked when Rhaenyra rips a page from the book, warning the princess that Septa Marlow won't be happy. Rhaenyra responds with profanity and states she doesn't care about the septa, then they both laugh about it as they walk arm in arm.

Alicent sits beside the princess in the royal box at the Heir's Tournament. She informs Rhaenyra about House Cole of the Stormlands and she whispers to Rhaenyra about court gossip involving the betrothal of Lady Elinor Stokeworth and a young Massey squire, alleging that Elinor is already with child. Alicent is anxious when Prince Daemon Targaryen chooses her eldest brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower, as his first opponent in the joust, biting her fingernails until Rhaenyra grabs her hand reassuringly. She is frightened, putting her hand to her mouth, when Daemon trips Gwayne's horse, throwing him from the saddle and injuring his face. Daemon then asks Alicent for her favor, to which she obliges. She looks to her father, Ser Otto, before placing a laurel wreath on Daemon's lance. She is later amazed to discover that Ser Criston Cole is Dornish.

Alicent attends the funeral of Queen Aemma and Prince Baelon as they are cremated by Syrax's flames.

Alicent is later summoned to the Tower of the Hand by her father. She is embraced by Otto and is asked about how Rhaenyra is coping with her mother and brother's deaths, then is told to go and offer her condolences to the grieving king in his chambers, being told to stop biting her fingernails and to wear one of her mother's dresses.

Alicent is escorted into King Viserys's chambers by the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Ryam Redwyne. She brings her favorite history book with her as the king is passionate about the subject, for which Viserys thanks her. After a moment's silence she brings up her own mother's death stating that people only spoke to her in riddles, wishing someone had only said sorry to her for what had happened. She offers her condolences to the king for what happened to his wife and son.

Alicent and her father are in attendance at the ceremony naming Rhaenyra as Princess of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne.

At her father's urging, Alicent becomes closer to the king, and spends time with him privately. The king chooses Alicent for his wife. They marry and Alicent soon gives birth to her first son, Prince Aegon.

Three years later, Alicent celebrates Aegon's second nameday with her family and she is pregnant again.

Following Daemon and Rhaenyra's nighttime escapade into the streets of King's Lander, Ser Otto reports to King Viserys that the two were seen coupling together in a brothel. Alicent overhears the exchange and confronts Rhaenyra in the Godswood. Rhaenyra vehemently denies the story, but Alicent is still visibly shaken.

In the books

Alicent's father Otto Hightower had been Hand of the King in the last few years of the long reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. In 101 AC Otto brought the 15 year old Alicent to the royal court, where she cared for the aging king (who was left a broken shell after the recent death of his queen of many years, Alysanne, and then his second son Baelon a year later). Jaehaerys died in 103 AC and was succeeded by his grandson Viserys I, who ruled for 26 years. Her father Otto remained as Hand of the King for Viserys I, and Otto's older brother in time succeeded as head of House Hightower.

Alicent is described as looking quite young for her age, even well into her 40s. Despite having four pregnancies, Alicent maintained her youthful figure. In her youth, Alicent was said to be one of the most comely maidens in Westeros, but also precociously clever.

Alicent's father Otto wasn't the head of House Hightower, but the younger brother of the unnamed head of the family - by the time of the Dance, Otto's nephew Ormund was the ruler of House Hightower and Oldtown. Alicent's mother was never mentioned in the books at all, to the point that her absence from scenes at the royal court may imply that she died years before the Dance of the Dragons. Alicent had an unspecified number of siblings, but the only one ever identified was her youngest brother Gwayne. She also had numerous cousins.

Daemon Targaryen

Prince Daemon Targaryen is a prince of the Targaryen dynasty, the younger brother of King Viserys I Targaryen, and uncle of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.

He is a peerless warrior, and also a dragonrider: his mount is Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm.

Biography

Daemon is the grandson of Jaehaerys I Targaryen, younger brother of King Viserys, and heir presumptive to the Iron Throne. Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, considers Daemon the greatest threat to the realm. He is the rider of the dragon Caraxes, an older dragon known as the Blood Wyrm. An experienced and skilled fighter, he wields Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel sword of his grandfather's great aunt Visenya Targaryen. Unlike his older brother, Daemon is - despite his great cunning - an unpredictable and impulsive rogue.

At the Great Council of 101 AC, Viserys was chosen by the lords of Westeros as the successor to King Jaehaerys, whose health had begun to fail and who had lost both his sons. During the first nine years of his brother's reign, Daemon served on the small council, both as Master of Laws and later as Master of Coin. However, he was removed from those offices, both times at the insistence of Otto Hightower. The rivalry between Daemon and Otto continued, as the Hand saw the prince as a threat if he were to ever become king, possibly a second Maegor the Cruel. Daemon in turn saw Otto as a dishonorable leech who wanted to rise as high as he could get, since his status as a second son would not allow him to inherit anything of his own. Most of the council sided with Otto in this conflict, but Daemon was always defended by his brother.

At some point King Viserys arranged a marriage for his younger brother, wedding him to Rhea Royce, the Lady of Runestone. Neither party was happy with this match, with Daemon disparagingly referring to his wife as his "bronze bitch".

Daemon's personal coat of arms features the three-headed red dragon of House Targaryen, adorned with golden scales and within a border of golden fire. His helmet, forged from Valyrian steel, is adorned with the head and wings of a dragon.

In the books

Daemon was a controversial man in his lifetime, an audacious rogue prince and adventurer who seemed composed of good and evil in equal measure. There was never a man simultaneously so loved and so reviled as he was. To some he was a hero, to others the blackest of villains.

Younger son of Baelon Targaryen, Daemon became one of the most experienced warriors of his generation with his constant fighting and was knighted at the age of sixteen. His grandfather King Jaehaerys I Targaryen gave him the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister. Daemon rode the dragon Caraxes, a powerful beast who he flew in his constant campaigns in the Stepstones, soon becoming the most battle-hardened of the Targaryen dragons. Caraxes's might in battle was enough to match even the mighty Vhagar, the largest of the dragons and the last of the three that had been brought to Westeros by Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters.

Daemon served on his brother Viserys I's small council for a time, as Master of Coin and Master of Laws, but grew bored of such administrative work, and became the new Lord Commander of the City Watch. He reorganized the Watch from a loosely assembled and poorly equipped group of street toughs into the formal institution they were known as ever since, giving them their trademark gold cloaks. Daemon vigorously enforced order in the alleys of the city, but was also a well-known rabble-rouser, socializing with the city's dregs as long as they played by his rules. His face became known to every cut-purse, whore, and gambler in Flea Bottom.

On several major occasions Daemon clashed with his brother over the matter of succession, only to reconcile with him later. At the beginning of Viserys I's reign, Daemon wanted to be named as heir ahead of his brother's only child, his daughter Rhaenyra. The Great Council of 101 AC that had put Viserys on the throne ahead of his cousin Rhaenys favored male proximity over primogeniture, so Daemon assumed he would be named heir ahead of his niece Rhaenyra, much as his father Baelon had been named heir ahead of his niece Rhaenys. Daemon's behavior was so wild and unpredictable, however, that while Viserys still loved his brother, he hesitated to formally name him as the official heir to the throne.

King Viserys I Targaryen

King Viserys I Targaryen is the fifth king of the Targaryen dynasty to rule the Seven Kingdoms.

Viserys I is the grandson of Jaehaerys I Targaryen, and father of Rhaenyra. He briefly rode Balerion the Black Dread in his youth before the dragon's death of old age.

Biography

Viserys I is the grandson of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. He immediately succeeded his grandfather as king because Jaehaerys I ruled for so long that his children, Prince Baelon and Princess Alyssa (Viserys's parents), predeceased him. Jaehaerys I was himself the grandson of Aegon the Conqueror, who invaded and united Westeros and forged the Iron Throne.

Viserys inherited the realm after an unprecedented fifty years of peace and prosperity under his grandfather, a golden age that Viserys strives not to disrupt. A full century after the Targaryen Conquest, their dynasty's rule is unchallenged - save for still-independent Dorne, though relations with them have also been calm and stable for decades.

All is not stable within House Targaryen, however, as Viserys's first cousin Rhaenys contested their grandfather's succession. Rhaenys was the only child of Jaehaerys's first son, while Viserys was the eldest son of Jaehaerys's second son, but the relatively young Targaryen dynasty did not have firmly established succession laws. Moreover, if Rhaenys was to be passed over due to being a woman, others (including House Stark) argued that rule should pass to her son Laenor Velaryon. To address the issue, all the lords of Westeros gathered in the Great Council of 101 AC: Viserys won the final vote by a wide margin, and Rhaenys grudgingly accepted the result. Nonetheless, this left a major rift between Viserys's new royal court and House Velaryon, led by Rhaenys's husband Corlys Velaryon, admiral of the royal fleets and the wealthiest man in Westeros.

Adding to these tensions, at the beginning of his reign Viserys had yet to produce a male heir with his beloved wife, Queen Aemma Arryn - despite Viserys's claim to the throne being based on direct succession from male to male. Their only living child is Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, but according to the precedent set by the council at Harrenhal, Viserys's heir should be his closest male relative - his younger brother Daemon Targaryen. Yet the lords of Westeros and even Viserys himself consider Daemon too wild and hot-headed to ever be a suitable heir to the throne.

The question of Viserys's succession leads to factions forming in the realm as ambitious lords compete for his favor, particularly the Velaryons trying to regain the throne they see as rightfully theirs, and House Hightower - the powerful family of Viserys's Hand of the King, Otto Hightower, the rulers of Oldtown who maintain deep ties with the leadership of the Faith of the Seven.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Viserys I was the grandson of King Jaehaerys I, who was the longest-reigning King of the Seven Kingdoms in history, ruling for 55 years. Jaehaerys I ruled for so long that his son predeceased him, and he was directly succeeded by Viserys I, who then ruled for 26 years. Between the two of them, they presided over an 80 year golden age for the Targaryen dynasty, with entire generations that were born and died knowing only the peace and prosperity brought by the dragon-kings' unification of the continent.

Physically, Viserys I was a plump and pleasant man, amiable to those around him. He grew up in and ruled over a time of plenty, so he was fat and jovial, though he was still an effective monarch. He was loved by both the nobility and the smallfolk. As king, he wore the seven-jeweled crown of his predecessor, Jaehaerys I. Viserys was the last rider of the dragon Balerion the Black Dread. He did not ride him long or extensively, as the beast died of old age in 94 AC, late in the reign of Jaehaerys I and nine years before Viserys I succeeded him as king. Although at the time there were more Targaryen dragons than under the reign of any monarch before or since, Viserys I never bonded with another dragon.

Jaehaerys I and his sister-wife Good Queen Alysanne had nine children who grew to adulthood, of which four had (legitimate) children of their own - though two of them were in a brother-sister marriage. They had four grandchildren, of which two also married each other. Their eldest son Aemon married Jocelyn Baratheon, and produced one daughter named Rhaenys before his untimely death. Their second son Baelon married his own sister Alyssa, and they produced two surviving children: sons Viserys and Daemon. Younger sister Daella married Lord Rodrik Arryn, but died giving birth to Aemma Arryn - who eventually married her first cousin Viserys, and bore his daughter Rhaenyra.

Aemon was killed in a skirmish with pirates in 92 AC, after which Jaehaerys declared that his second son Baelon would replace him as royal heir - even though according to the traditional primogeniture laws followed by the Andals in Westeros, Aemon's child should have inherited instead of his younger brother. Later in 101 AC, Baelon suddenly died of a burst appendix: while under traditional law Baelon's own heir was his eldest son Viserys, the spurned Velaryons used the opportunity to again press their claim that Baelon never should have been considered the royal heir in the first place, and by right of primogeniture inheritance should pass to Rhaenys. Failing that, they insisted that the throne should at least pass to the next male produced from Rhaenys's bloodline, her son Laenor. Viserys and his supporters claimed he should be heir on the principle of male proximity, not primogeniture, as he could claim unbroken male descent from father to son (no major group in Westeros is known to have practiced proximity-based inheritance before, but many did not want to see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne).

To prevent a civil war, Jaehaerys convened the Great Council of 101 AC in which all the great and minor lords of Westeros gathered to debate on the issue. It focused down to a vote between Viserys and Laenor, and Viserys won the final tally in a landslide of about twenty to one. Faced with such opposition, the Velaryons grudgingly accepted the result of the council, though they remained estranged from Viserys's new royal court.