Aegon III Targaryen


 * For other characters who share the same name, see "Aegon Targaryen (disambiguation)".

"Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather, his dragon. It ate her while her son watched. What's left of her is buried in the crypts right down there."

- King Joffrey Baratheon points out what little remains of Rhaenyra in the Great Sept of Baelor

Aegon III Targaryen is an character mentioned in the third season and appearing in the Histories & Lore feature. He is long dead by the time of the series. He was a King of the Targaryen dynasty.

Background
Aegon III was a King of the Targaryen dynasty. He was the son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen. He was brother to Viserys.

Aegon ascended to the Iron Throne following the end of the Dance of the Dragons, after his uncle, King Aegon II, was poisoned by his own courtiers. He was married off to his cousin, Princess Jaehaera Targaryen, to unite the two factions of the war - blacks and greens.

Eventually, Aegon fathered five children: Daeron, Baelor, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena. After his death, he was succeded by Daeron,

Season 3
While touring the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, King Joffrey Baratheon explains to Margaery Tyrell that Rhaenyra Targaryen was eaten by her brother's dragon while her son - Aegon III, whom he doesn't mention by name - was forced to watch.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Aegon III watched as his mother was devoured by the dragon of Aegon II, his uncle, during the civil war known as the Dance of Dragons. Due to the trauma of witnessing his mother's death, Aegon III developed a fierce hatred and terror of the creatures.

Aegon III ascended to the Iron Throne after Aegon II died without any males heirs. He married Aegon II's daughter (and only surviving child) Jaehaera to seal the peace between the two rival branches of House Targaryen. However, she later died without issue, ending Aegon II's line entirely. Aegon III then remarried to Daenaera of House Velaryon, who was the mother of all of his subsequent children.

Aegon III ascended to the Iron Throne when he was only eleven years old, making him the youngest king in history - until Tommen Baratheon ascended the throne at the age of eight (the TV series aged-up several child characters, so TV-Tommen is actually slightly older than eleven or ten, though even so TV-Tommen came to the throne very young). The early years of his long reign, until he reached the age of majority at sixteen, were a tense period known as the Regency. A regency council was organized with members who fought on both sides in the civil war, a measure taken to ensure peace, given that neither side was truly victorious. Ser Tyland Lannister (who served his grandfather Viserys I as Master of Ships, and later as the Green Master of Coin under Aegon II) became Hand of the King. Tyland served for two years before dying of a winter chill. Lady Jeyne Arryn, ruler of the Vale and one of the core Black leaders, also served on the regency council as well as Lord Corlys Velaryon who died a year later of old age. During the time of the regents, Aegon had little to do with the ruling of the Seven Kingdoms and the regents begun to vie among themselves for more power. Lord Unwin Peake, who served as Hand of the King after Tyland Lannister, was particularly hated for his incesant efforts to marry his daughter to the young king after Queen Jaehaera's suicide (which some believed was murder orchestrated by Lord Peake) but his efforts were rendered futile when Aegon married Daenaera. Lord Peake later resigned the Handship to force the other regents to grant him more power but they surprised him by accepting his resignation.

The only joy for King Aegon during this time came when his younger brother, Viserys, returned from captivity from Lys with a wife at his side. Viserys had been captured during the Dance of the Dragons by the Lysene and Aegon had always felt guilty for not saving his brother. Viserys would become Aegon's closest friend and the only person he ever truly and fully trusted. When Aegon III reached maturity, he removed the regents from power with the help of his brother and began to rule in his own right. Viserys would later be made his Hand for the rest of his reign.

Aegon III ruled the Seven Kingdoms long and well, repairing the extensive damage wrought by the civil war. Aegon III is nonetheless often blamed for the death of the last dragon, for which he became known as "Aegon the Dragonbane", despite his later efforts to obtain Dragon eggs. At some point he had nine mages cross the sea to attempt to hatch his remaining cache of eggs. So few dragons had survived the civil war that they could not maintain a stable breeding population. Only four dragons had survived the Dance: Silverwing, the Cannibal, Sheepstealer (who was missing and presumed dead), and one other (who only hatched late in the war). The dragons were inbred to begin with, descending only from the original three brought to Westeros by Aegon I and his sisters. The final two dragons were hatched and then died during Aegon III's long reign: they were stunted, sickly creatures not much bigger than large dogs, and they did not live long. Some speculate that the Maesters poisoned the last dragons, because as men of science and learning they feared and hated the magical powers associated with the creatures. It is unknown if this was true, but the maesters certainly had no great love for the dragons and welcomed their demise when it came.

Aegon had two sons: Daeron, called the Young Dragon, and Baelor, called Baelor the Blessed. He also had three daughters, later known as the "Three Maidens in the Tower": Daena the Defiant, Rhaena and Elaena. Upon his death in 157AL, Aegon III was succeeded by his young son Daeron. Aegon was said to have always walked with a great grief, and the folly of his sons nearly tore the realm apart. His reign is not fondly remembered in the Seven Kingdoms and he is known as the 'Broken King'.

Both of Aegon III's sons ruled as king but both died without issue. Afterwards, due to the new succession laws Aegon III had enacted, his three daughters were skipped over, and his younger brother Viserys II was crowned king. Therefore later Targaryens such as Daenerys do not descend from him. However, his daughter Daena had a love affair with Viserys II's son King Aegon IV, which produced Aegon IV's bastard son Daemon Blackfyre. Aegon IV legitimized him on his deathbed, after which Daemon founded House Blackfyre. Thus the later Targaryens descend from younger brother Viserys II, while the Blackfyres illegitimately descend from older brother Aegon III (as well as, also illegitimately, from Viserys II's son Aegon IV).