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- "Defying his mother's command, Rheanyra's eldest son and heir, Jacaerys, mounted his dragon Vermax and flew to rescue his other brother and punish the enemy fleet."
- ―Viserys Targaryen
Prince Jacaerys Velaryon was a Prince of the Targaryen dynasty.
Biography
Jacaerys was the eldest son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her first husband/cousin, Laenor Velaryon. His mother was the first child and daughter of Viserys I Targaryen, who did not change the succession of the Iron Throne upon the birth of his sons. This made Jacaerys second in line for the throne.
When his grandfather King Viserys I Targaryen died, his uncle was named King Aegon II Targaryen, on the orders of his step-grandmother Alicent Hightower. When Rhaenyra heard the news, the Dance of the Dragons began. By this time, Laenor had died and Jacaerys's mother had remarried her uncle Daemon Targaryen, and had two more sons with him. In order to gain more supporters on the mainland of Westeros, Rhaenyra sent him on his dragon, Vermax, to recruit houses in the North and the Vale. House Arryn, the house of Jacaerys's grandmother Aemma Arryn, were persuaded to join the Blacks. He also persuaded the Starks of Winterfell, meaning that the Northern houses all followed his mother.
After his grandmother Rhaenys died at the hands of his two uncles, Rhaenyra sent Jacaerys's younger brothers to Essos for safety but the youngest came back on his dying dragon. Although his mother forbade it, Jacaerys flew on Vermax to rescue his brother from the enemy fleet. However, the dragon dropped into the sea, where they were both shot numerous times, and where it is said, "they soaked up more arrows than seawater."[1]
Family tree
Paternal
 Velaryon Deceased |  Targaryen  Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Velaryon Deceased |  Targaryen  Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Velaryon Deceased |  Velaryon Deceased |  Velaryon Deceased | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maternal
 Targaryen Deceased |  Targaryen Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Velaryon  Deceased | Granddaughter of Jaehaerys I Deceased |   Deceased |  Grandson of Jaehaerys I Deceased |   Deceased |  Grandson of Jaehaerys I Uncle and husband of Rhaenyra Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Velaryon Deceased | Targaryen Deceased | Grandson of Jaehaerys I Uncle and husband of Rhaenyra Deceased |   Deceased |  Deceased |  Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Velaryon Deceased | Velaryon Deceased | Velaryon Deceased |  Deceased |  Deceased |  Deceased |  Deceased |  Deceased | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the books
Jacaerys was fifteen-years-old at the start of the civil war which became known as the Dance of the Dragons. He rode his dragon, Vermax, to the Eyrie, Sisterton, White Harbor, and Winterfell to raise support for his mother's claim. After successfully gaining the Vale of Arryn for the blacks, he also gained the North through the Pact of Ice and Fire.
Jacaerys took part in the Battle of the Gullet where Vermax flew too low and crashed into the sea. It was said that Jacaerys leapt free and clung to a piece of smoking wreckage for a few heartbeats until some crossbowmen on the nearest ship began loosing quarrels at him. The prince was struck once, and then again. Finally, one quarrel took him in the neck and he was swallowed by the sea.
See also
Jacaerys Velaryon on A Wiki of Ice and Fire
