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| “ | Aegon the Fourth legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed. And how much pain, grief, war and murder grew from that? … The Blackfyre pretenders troubled the Targaryens for five generations, until Barristan the Bold slew the last of them on the Stepstones. | „ |
| ~ Catelyn Stark to Robb Stark about the rise and downfall of House Blackfyre. |
House Blackfyre are major characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise, and the main antagonists of the Tales of Dunk and Egg novella series.
They were a noble house of the Crownlands and subsequently, following the death of their founder, became a noble house of Tyrosh. They were a cadet branch of House Targaryen that has been extinct for many decades by the time the main story started. While their role in the main and current story is relatively minor, their legacy still haunts the Targaryens and Westeros as a whole, and many use them as a prime example of why bastards are to be shunned, feared, and hated.
House Blackfyre is named for the lost Valyrian steel bastard sword of the same name. The sword Blackfyre had been bestowed by King Aegon IV to the-then Ser Daemon Waters instead of the future King Daeron II Targaryen, and ever since the sword belonged to House Blackfyre. Ser Aegor Rivers is the last person known to have wielded Blackfyre, and after his death the historians lost track of whoever might have gained possession of the sword afterward, making it lost in the Free Cities.
Illyrio Mopatis specifies that House Blackfyre became extinct from the male line. However, any possible children of female members and their descendants did not take the family's name.
Biography[]
Founding[]
In the dying days of King Aegon IV, his bastard son Daemon was legitimized and given permission to build a keep of his own on the Blackwater Rush. Daemon Blackfyre proved to be a powerful warrior and a valiant knight, entering many tourneys. However, legitimizing Daemon proved to be a catastrophic mistake for Westeros.
The First Blackfyre Rebellion[]
In 196 AC, Daemon rebelled against the Iron Throne, using the lie that Daeron was the son of Aemon the Dragonknight instead of King Aegon IV Targaryen and that the gift of the ancestral weapon Blackfyre proved that Aegon wanted Daemon to succeed him. This was supported by many. Though the rebellion claimed to be the result of King Daeron refusing to marry his sister Daenerys to Daemon, who gave her to the Dornish instead to make peace with them after a bloody civil war.
Many believed that Daemon would make a better king than Daeron; most considered Daeron to be a weak and bookish man, while Daemon was a strong and powerful warrior. Also, as many had lost loved ones in the Dornish civil war, many were not at peace with the truce between Daeron and Dorne. Some lords believed that Daemon could give them what Daeron would not give them.
However, the Blackfyre rebellion ended in defeat at the Battle of Redgrass Field. Both Daemon and his two eldest sons perished in the battle. Daemon's surviving sons and daughters fled to the Free City of Tyrosh, their mother's home, and hid there.
The Second Blackfyre Rebellion[]
Daemon II Blackfyre, who had dragon dreams, infiltrated the Whitewalls Tourney, planning to start a second rebellion. He also had plans to have Ser Duncan the Tall in his Kingsguard, whom he dreamed would become a Kingsguard one day. Daemon (disguised as Ser John the Fiddler) defeated Ser Franklyn Frey and Ser Galtry the Green in the tourney. His supporters had a dragon egg he claimed would hatch, so the tourney was staged so Daemon could win it; however, the egg was stolen, and Ser Glendon Ball was arrested for theft and murder. When Ser Duncan the Tall demanded a trial by combat for Ser Glendon, Daemon agreed, and Ser Glendon unhorsed Daemon, proving his innocence.
The Second Blackfyre Rebellion began in 211 AC, with Daemon single-handedly trying to take on Lord Bloodraven and his army. However, the rebellion was snuffed out quickly by Lord Bloodraven before it could spread beyond Whitewalls, and several key Blackfyre supporters were killed. Daemon was taken prisoner. Daemon later died in captivity at King's Landing.
The Third Blackfyre Rebellion[]
In 219 AC, Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers, a Blackfyre sympathizer (half-brother and military commander to Daemon I Blackfyre) and Knight of Westeros, launched a new invasion after crowning Haegon Blackfyre. It was late in the reign of King Aerys I Targaryen, who was not very involved in ruling, but his younger brother Maekar's leadership during the conflict was commendable, as was the courage of his youngest son, Aegon "Egg" Targaryen (Aegon V). Prince Aerion Targaryen was also active in its events. The war featured the second duel between Bittersteel and Bloodraven. At the end of the final battle, Haegon I was dishonorably killed after he surrendered and gave up his sword. Bittersteel was taken captive and in chains to the Red Keep, yet while Brightflame and Bloodraven both urged that he be executed, Aerys I foolishly offered him mercy, sending him north to join the Night's Watch. The Golden Company learned of this through their informants and attacked the prisoner transport as it sailed to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Before the year was over, Bittersteel had returned to Tyrosh and crowned Haegon's eldest son as Daemon III Blackfyre.
The Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion[]
In 236 AC, Daemon III Blackfyre and Bittersteel led the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion, landing at Massey's Hook. The rebellion had little support, however, as people thought the Blackfyres were done, as tattered as their banners. At the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, Ser Duncan the Tall slew Daemon III Blackfyre. Bittersteel managed to survive and cross the narrow sea again with the remains of the Golden Company. The war was quickly over.
The end of Bittersteel[]
A few years after the 4th Blackfyre rebellion, Bittersteel appeared on the Disputed Lands, fighting with his mercenaries in a war between Tyrosh and Myr. Aegor Rivers was fatally wounded and died at the age of sixty-nine years old. With the loss of his general and champion and greatest supporter, the Blackfyre leadership went to Maelys the Monstruous, grandson of Daemon I.
War of the Ninepenny Kings[]
Twenty-four years after the 4th Blackfyre rebellion, the Blackfyre's, under the leadership of Maelys Blackfyre, once again gathered up enough strength in the Free Cities in the form of sellsword armies to mount another attempt to seize the Iron Throne and sailed to the Stepstones of Westeros. However, King Jaeharys II caught wind of the attack and sent an army to the Stepstones to engage the rebels.
The war ended when the young Ser Barristan Selmy killed Maelys the Monstrous in single combat, ending the war and the Blackfyre male line. The fate of the female line is currently unknown.
Current Members[]
Although House Blackfyre is supposedly (truly in the TV adaptation) extinct after Maelys' death, there are some clues that the Blackfyre Pretenders might have survived through the female line. Illyrio Mopatis was gathering support to claim the Seven Kingdoms for the young exiled prince Aegon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell), who supposedly died at the Sack of King's Landing. But there are some clues that Aegon (disguised as Young Gryff) is not Aegon Targaryen but a Blackfyre descendent, whose father is Mopatis, who married a woman named Serra, a possibly descendent from the female Blackfyre line. Throughout the books, there are clues that lead to this theory. Daenerys Targaryen has visions in the House of the Undying of a "clothed dragon," who can be Aegon. Later, when Tyrion Lannister questions Illyrio Mopatis on how he convinced the Golden Company to support Daenerys, given that they've spent most of their history fighting House Targaryen for House Blackfyre, Mopatis simply replies, "Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon," hinting at Aegon's Blackfyre heritage.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- House Blackfyre is the continued lineage of both sibling Kings Aegon III and Viserys II Targaryen, as Daemon I Blackfyre was the bastard son of Viserys's son, Aegon IV the Unworthy, and Aegon III's daughter, Daena Targaryen. House Blackfyre is especially known as Aegon III's continued line, as House Targaryen's was continued through Viserys II's line.
- While Aegon III's line also continues through Houses Longwaters, Plumm, and Penrose (and any other families from other following unions), from his daughter Elaena, it is House Blackfyre the only one that retains full "pure" Valyrian features, making House Blackfyre the most known descendants of Aegon III, whose two sons, Daeron and Baelor died without issue.
- While Maelys Blackfyre is officially known as the final member of House Blackfyre, his death marking its extinction, it is theorized by readers that the young boy who is presented as Aegon Targaryen in the main story of A Song of Ice and Fire is actually a member of House Blackfyre through the female line. While Aegon is supposedly the son and heir of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, many readers have speculated for years that Aegon might in truth be the son of Illyrio Mopatis and his second wife, the Lyseni Serra. Readers believe Serra to be a Blackfyre by blood.
- Evidence of this theory includes the fact that the Golden Company was entirely founded to support House Blackfyre and still honors its founder, Bittersteel. It seems strange to many readers that the sellsword company is suddenly filled with Targaryen loyalists, when it even includes exiled members of House Peake, whose ancestors were historical Blackfyre supporters and fell from favor with the Targaryens after two rebellions and harsh punishments. In every Blackfyre Rebellion, the Golden Company always supported the Blackfyres against the Targaryens, while they never showed interest in fighting the latter's causes, even during Robert's Rebellion.
- Also, the quest to put Aegon on the throne is so important to the Golden Company that they even broke their contract with the Free City of Myr, despite a looming war with neighboring Lys and Tyrosh. This is the very first time the well-known and disciplined Golden Company has ever broken a contract. Historically, the only thing that was always more important to the Golden Company than following their contracts was aiding House Blackfyre's causes.
- If the Golden Company indeed still fights to put a Blackfyre on the Iron Throne, then this would make Jon Connington a pawn to them and the schemes of Varys and Illyrio.
- Furthermore, Tyrion Lannister suspects that Illyrio has personal ulterior motives for being so devoted to Aegon's cause. Evidence includes the fact that Illyrio was deeply in love with his second wife, Serra, and still sleeps with a picture of her and has a statue of her in his garden.
- Illyrio admitted he had no initial interest in supporting House Targaryen, as he originally wanted to kill Viserys Targaryen and just take his sister Daenerys as his wife, before changing ideas and having initially conspired to add Khal Drogo's khalasar to Aegon's allies. After accidentally becoming the very person to have provided Daenerys with dragons, Illyrio became very keen on bringing her back to Pentos (which failed when she went to Slaver's Bay) and still wants Aegon to marry her. If Aegon is a Blackfyre through his theorized real mother, then marrying Daenerys would unite the dragonseed Houses Targaryen and Blackfyre, with Aegon still keeping the Targaryen name.
- Varys also never showed any preference toward Viserys and Daenerys, supporting only Aegon and having even hired an assassin to kill Daenerys for King Robert, although it is speculated by some readers that he had expected his spy Jorah to protect Daenerys.
- Illyrio admitted he had no initial interest in supporting House Targaryen, as he originally wanted to kill Viserys Targaryen and just take his sister Daenerys as his wife, before changing ideas and having initially conspired to add Khal Drogo's khalasar to Aegon's allies. After accidentally becoming the very person to have provided Daenerys with dragons, Illyrio became very keen on bringing her back to Pentos (which failed when she went to Slaver's Bay) and still wants Aegon to marry her. If Aegon is a Blackfyre through his theorized real mother, then marrying Daenerys would unite the dragonseed Houses Targaryen and Blackfyre, with Aegon still keeping the Targaryen name.
- Evidence of this theory includes the fact that the Golden Company was entirely founded to support House Blackfyre and still honors its founder, Bittersteel. It seems strange to many readers that the sellsword company is suddenly filled with Targaryen loyalists, when it even includes exiled members of House Peake, whose ancestors were historical Blackfyre supporters and fell from favor with the Targaryens after two rebellions and harsh punishments. In every Blackfyre Rebellion, the Golden Company always supported the Blackfyres against the Targaryens, while they never showed interest in fighting the latter's causes, even during Robert's Rebellion.
- While being visited in a dream, Daenerys is warned by the sorceress Quaithe against the "mummer's dragon" and the griffin (Jon "Griff" Connington, most likely) and not to trust them. Varys used to be a mummer as a child, and readers speculate that he is the mummer mentioned by Quaithe, his dragon being Aegon "Young Griff." Regardless if he is a trueborn Targaryen or not, Aegon would still remain a "dragon" nonetheless, as Blackfyres are dragonseeds, Targaryen relatives, and descendants of Old Valyria.
External Links[]
- House Blackfyre on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- House Blackfyre on the Game of Thrones Wiki
