Daemon Targaryen

Daemon Targaryen is an unseen characters in Game of Thrones. He is long dead by the time of the series. He was a Prince of the Targaryen dynasty.

Biography
During the Dance of the Dragons, Daemon duelled his nephew Aemond to the death in the Dance over Harrenhal.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Daemon Targaryen was the uncle and husband of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, whose claim he supported in the Dance of the Dragons. He was Rhaenyra's second husband, following Laenor Velaryon. He was a younger son of Baelon Targaryen, and brother to Viserys I Targaryen.

Prince Daemon was the most experienced warrior of his time and wielded the Valyrian steel blade Dark Sister. A dragonrider whose dragon was Caraxes, Daemon declared himself the King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea. He was father to two kings on the Iron Throne, Aegon III Targaryen and Viserys II Targaryen.

Since his youth, Prince Daemon's face was familiar to every cut-purse, whore, and gambler in Flea Bottom. He was knighted at sixteen, and his grandfather King Jaehaerys I Targaryen gave him Dark Sister.

His first marriage was to Lady Rhea Royce, but he disliked both her and the Vale. He served as Master of Coin from 103 AC until 104 AC and Master of Laws for six months after that. Then he served as Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing, where he inspired loyalty with many of the rank-and-file gold cloaks.

His brother Viserys's first wife, Aemma Arryn, died birthing Baelon Targaryen, Viserys' second son (the first son had died in the cradle). The boy died a day after his birth. Daemon was observed in a brothel in the Street of Silk making drunken japes with his cronies about the "Heir for a day". This enraged King Viserys who had Rhaenyra declared the heir in response to his ungrateful brothers apathy, Daemon left the capital in a fury.

On Dragonstone, Daemon impregnated his lover Mysaria. He wanted to present Mysaria with a dragon egg, which enraged King Viserys, who demanded that Daemon return the egg and that he return to his wife in the Vale. Daemon send Mysaria to Lys, but Mysaria's ship sailed through a storm in the Narrow Sea, and Mysaria lost the child. This hardened Daemon against his brother.

In 106 AC, Daemon led an army to invade the Stepstones in the southern narrow sea, with the support of Lord Corlys Velaryon and his fleet, and with the use of Daemons dragon, Caraxes. He made many enemies in the Kingdom of the Three Daughters (Myr, Tyrosh and Lys) during the course of his adventures there. He also made enemies in the Seven Kingdoms, including Ser Otto Hightower and members of House Royce for his disregard for his first wife, Rhea Royce.

After conquering all but two of the islands, Daemon declared himself King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea in 109 AC. Daemon returned to the capital in 111 AC during the tournament that gave the Greens and the Blacks their names. He reconciled with his brother and returned to the Small Council. After six months since his return, it was rumored that Prince Daemon took Princess Rhaenyra's virginity prior to her sixteenth nameday. Lyonel Strong's counsel to the enraged King Viserys was that Daemon should be executed for treason. Septon Eustace however reminded the council about the taint of kinslaying, thus Daemon was exiled instead.

Daemon returned to Bloodstone in the Stepstones. In 115 AC he abandoned the Stepstones, after the death of his wife, Rhea Royce, but failed to claim Runestone, which had been Rhea's seat. No longer welcome in the Vale, Daemon turned to Driftmark, where he married Laena Velaryon, the daughter of his friend Corlys. Because the marriage had been without consent of the King, he and Laena left Westeros and toured the Free Cities. They remained in Pentos for some time when they learned that Laena was pregnant, causing their daughters Baela and Rhaena to be born in Pentos, in 116 AC. Laena died from childbirth in 120 AC, trying to birth Daemon a son (the boy died as well). Later in the same year Daemon married again, this time to his niece, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. This marriage was performed suddenly without King Viserys' knowledge or consent. It caused a huge scandal when word reached King's Landing, as neither Laena nor Laenor Velaryon, Rhaenyra's previous husband, had been dead for six months.

Prince Daemon and Princess Rhaenyra had two sons together: Prince Aegon, born in 120 AC, and Prince Viserys, born in 122 AC. They also had a stillborn daughter, Princess Visenya, whose birth took place in the third month of 129 AC.

By the time of the civil war called the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Daemon had more experience in warfare than all their foes combined. During Rhaenyra's coronation on Dragonstone, Prince Daemon placed the crown of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen on the head of his wife, proclaiming her queen and claiming himself Protector of the Realm.

Daemon captured Harrenhal from its castellan, Ser Simon Strong, without conflict by landing Caraxes on top of Kingspyre Tower. After hearing of the death of his step-son, Prince Lucerys Velaryon, at the hands of his nephew Prince Aemond Targaryen, Daemon, through his spymaster and former mistress Mysaria, hired Blood and Cheese to murder a son of King Aegon II Targaryen.

The prince's enemies made during his adventures came back to haunt the Blacks when Ser Otto Hightower, now the Hand of Aegon II, was able to recruit the Kingdom of the Three Daughters to send a fleet against them, breaking the Velaryon blockade and killing his stepson Jacaerys.

Daemon abandoned the great castle of Harrenhal when Aemond and Ser Criston Cole began marching on it. Instead, Daemon flew Caraxes back to King's Landing and assisted Rhaenyra in capturing it.

While searching for Aemond and Vhagar, who were burning the Riverlands, Daemon took the dragonseed (a bastard of House Targaryen born of the first night law) Nettles for a bedmate and made their base in Maidenpool. Maester Norren informed them that Queen Rhaenyra wanted Nettles dead. Daemon and Nettles separated the next morning.

Daemon challenged Aemond, waiting for thirteen days at Harrenhal until Aemond stopped burning the Riverlands to come face him. The Dance over Harrenhal ended in the deaths of both riders and both dragons over the Gods Eye. Daemon was forty-nine when he died. Unlike Aemond's body, however, Daemon's was never found. Singers say that Daemon lived to spend the rest of his days in secret with Nettles, but most historians disagree.