Aemon Targaryen (son of Jaehaerys I)

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Aemon Targaryen
House Targaryen.svg
Aemon 92.png
Aemon as a child, as depicted by Magali Villeneuve in The World of Ice & Fire.

Title Prince
Prince of Dragonstone
Master of laws
Lord justiciar
Allegiance House Targaryen
Race Valyrian
Culture Crownlands
Born In 55 AC[1], at Dragonstone
Died In 92 AC[2], at Tarth
Spouse Lady Jocelyn Baratheon
Issue Rhaenys Targaryen
Fire & Blood (mentioned)
The Rogue Prince (mentioned)
The Princess and the Queen (mentioned)
For other characters named "Aemon Targaryen", see here.

Prince Aemon Targaryen was a member of House Targaryen. He was the third born child of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen. Aemon was married to Lady Jocelyn Baratheon. Together, they had a daughter, Princess Rhaenys. Aemon was a dragonrider whose mount was Caraxes.[3][2][4]

Appearance and Character

Aemon had eyes "as pale as lilac". The color of his hair was rare, and had been even in Old Valyria: it was pale of color, and it shone like white gold.[1] Aemon was tall and handsome, even as a boy of seven. He was taller than his younger brother Baelon, and stronger besides.[4] By the time Aemon was fifteen years old, he was six feet and two inches tall.[4]

As a young child, Aemon was very serious, cautious, careful, and obedient. Before he was able to read, he loved being read to. His mother Alysanne would often say, whilst laughing, that Aemon's first word had been, "Why?".[1] Aemon was a modest child, and neither as quick nor as fierce as his brother Baelon was.[4]

Aemon was fast friends with his brother Baelon, and would train with him in the yard. They were evenly matched against each other, and their contests were very spirited, always drawing crowds of onlookers.[4]

At first, Aemon was shy around dragons,[1] although he would eventually claim a mount for his own: Caraxes.


Early life

Aemon was born in 55 AC on Dragonstone to King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen. The night following his birth, at the suggestion of Queen Alysanne, King Jaehaerys I placed a dragon's egg in Aemon's cradle.[1]

From the moment of his birth, King Jaehaerys I openly called Aemon his heir. Queen Alysanne, on the other hand, would reply that Princess Daenerys was older than Aemon, and should therefore be queen, to which Jaehaerys would respond that, once Aemon and Daenerys married, they would rule together as king and queen. The answer never entirely pleased Queen Alysanne.[1]

The smallfolk of King's Landing lined the streets outside the Red Keep when Jaehaerys and Alysanne returned to the city a month later, hoping to catch a glimpse of Aemon. Jaehaerys eventually climbed the ramparts of the main gates of the castle, raising Aemon over his head so all could see him. It was said that in response, a roar went up that was so loud that it could be heard across the narrow sea.[1]

Aemon's brother Prince Baelon was born in 57 AC. The two children became as close as could be. As soon as Baelon could walk, he began to follow Aemon around everywhere he went.[1]

In 58 AC, Aemon attended a tourney at King's Landing on the anniversary of Jaehaerys's coronation. There, he shared the royal box with his parents, his sister Daenerys, and his brother Baelon.[1]

Prince of Dragonstone

In 62 AC, King Jaehaerys formally granted Aemon the title of Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the throne.[4][5] At the feast that followed Aemon's appointment, Queen Alysanne sat Aemon beside Lady Jocelyn Baratheon. The two children spent the entire evening talking and laughing together.[4] King Jaehaerys had originally wished for Aemon to marry his older sister, Daenerys.[1] After Daenerys's death in 60 AC, Jaehaerys came to consider his second daughter, Alyssa, but that idea had been put aside by Queen Alysanne. As such, in 68 AC, Aemon's betrothal to Lady Jocelyn was announced. They were married two years later, in a ceremony as grand as the Golden Wedding.[4]

In 72 AC, Aemon was the victor in the squires' melee during the tourney at Duskendale in honor of Lord Darklyn's wedding. He later distinguished himself in the lists, and was subsequently knighted. Not long after his return to King's Landing, Aemon claimed the dragon Caraxes, the fiercest of the young dragons present in the Dragonpit.[4]

In 74 AC, Aemon became a father when Jocelyn gave birth to their daughter, Princess Rhaenys, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year. Seven years later, upon reaching his twenty-sixth nameday, Aemon was appointed to the office of lord justiciar and master of laws. In 88 AC, Aemon joined King Jaehaerys at a number of the castles he visited in the westerlands during one of his royal progresses, but he failed to persuade Jaehaerys to return to the Red Keep.[4]

In 83 AC Aemon, along with his brother Baelon and their father Jaehaerys, ended the attempted invasion of the stormlands by Prince Morion Martell of Dorne. Mounted atop their dragons, they destroyed the Dornish fleet before it could even make landfall. The war was fought and won in a day, and upon their return to King's Landing, Aemon, Jaehaerys, and Baelon received a riotous welcome as they had won a war without losing a single man, something not even Aegon the Conqueror had been able to boast.[4]

In 92 AC, Aemon led the assault on the Myrish pirates who had conquered the eastern half of Tarth during the struggle known as the Myrish Bloodbath. Aemon left for Tarth on the ninth day of the third month that year, shortly after learning that his daughter Rhaenys was pregnant with her first child. Aemon arrived before the fleet of his son-by-marriage, Lord Corlys Velaryon. On Tarth, Aemon met with Lord Cameron Tarth in the mountains located at the center of the island, where the Lord of Tarth had made camp. A pair of Myrish scouts eventually discovered the camp, and recognized Lord Cameron. One of them took a shot at Lord Cameron with his crossbow. Although he missed Lord Tarth, Aemon, who had been standing by Lord Cameron's side, was struck in his throat, and drowned in his own blood.[2][4]

Aemon's death caused an issue with the succession, as Aemon's only child was a daughter, Rhaenys. King Jaehaerys chose Aemon's younger brother, Prince Baelon, as his new heir, passing over Rhaenys, and, as she was pregnant, her unborn child.[2][6][7][5] For this, and the Great Council of 101 AC, the dwarf court fool Mushroom would later name Rhaenys "The Queen Who Never Was".[5]


Aemon was married to his aunt, Lady Jocelyn Baratheon, with whom he had one child: Princess Rhaenys. Rhaenys was married to Lord Corlys Velaryon in 90 AC. This marriage led to two grandchildren for Aemon, though he did not live long enough to meet them: Laena and Laenor Velaryon. Laena had two daughters, Rhaena and Baela, while Laenor had three sons, Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey. Though no one questioned the paternity of Laena's children, there were unproven rumors that Laenor's children had been fathered on Laenor's wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen, by Ser Harwin Strong.[5][7][6][3]


Aenys I
Jaehaerys I


Viserys I
[Note 1]
[Note 1]
[Note 1]
Aegon II
Viserys II
Aegon III


  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I.
  3. 3.0 3.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Targaryen Lineage.
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Fire & Blood, The Long Reign - Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
  6. 6.0 6.1 The Princess and the Queen.
  7. 7.0 7.1 The Rogue Prince.