With the recent announcements of the 5 Game of Thrones prequels that are in development, there has been a lot of speculation as to what they could be. As you can see in one of my previous posts on the possibilities, it is quite likely that we will see a lot of Targaryen history come to light, including the First Blackfyre Rebellion. In this post, I will be breaking down what the Blackfyre Rebellion is and how it played out. This post is, however, largely targeted at those who have not read the books and do not follow the further lore of the show.

Basically, The Blackfyre Rebellion was a war fought between Daeron II Targaryen and Daemon I Blackfyre for the Iron Throne. It started with the birth of Daemon, the illegitimate (and second) son of Aegon IV (who was the rightful heir to the throne at the time), mothered by Aegon’s cousin, Daena (niece of Viserys II, the king at the time and Aegon’s father).

Starting at the beginning, however, Aegon married Naerys (his sister) and went on to produce a legitimate son (Daeron) and daughter (Daenerys) – as can be seen on the below family tree. 17 years later, Aegon fathered the aforementioned Daemon (who would go on to take the Blackfyre name). 2 years after the birth of Daemon and following the death of his father, Viserys, Aegon gained the throne.

Many years later, on his deathbed, Aegon legitimised all of his illegitimate children and therefore Daemon (who had taken the Blackfyre name after being knighted). Daemon, Of course, tried to claim the throne from Daeron and unintentionally started an open civil war that divided the seven kingdoms.

The loyalists, supporting Daeron (and therefore the Targaryens) included great houses such as the Lannisters, the Martells, The Tullys, and the Tyrells. They saw that, in supporting the Targaryens, they could remain in their favour and retain their power. The smaller houses saw that, if they banded together, they could take down the large houses that ruled Westeros and restricted their power. This meant that they fewer, larger houses were pitted against, the many smaller houses that supported the rebel’s (the Blackfyres).

The war raged for over a year and culminated in the Battle Of Redgrass field (pictured in the art above), the largest battle seen in centuries. The Targaryens came out on top and many of the smaller houses were destroyed in their entirety. Daeron II went on to marry Myriah Martell of Dorne, fathering 5 children by her and continuing the Targaryen line that leads to the Mad King (father to Danaerys, Raegar, and Viserys, and overthrown during Robert’s rebellion).

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