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- "You hear that, little boy? Your mama wants you dead."
- ―Cheese to an infant Maelor
Prince Maelor Targaryen was a Prince of the Targaryen dynasty.
Biography
Maelor was the youngest child of Aegon II Targaryen and his sister-wife, Helaena Targaryen. He presumably had a very close relationship with his mother. When his cousin Lucerys Velaryon was killed by Maelor's uncle Aemond Targaryen, Lucerys's stepfather Daemon Targaryen hired two assassinates to kill Aegon's and Helaena's children. One was a former "Gold Cloak" known as Blood and the other was a rat-catcher known as Cheese who knew all the sewers around King's Landing. This meant that they both had perfect recognition of the layout of the Red Keep. After breaking into the royal apartments, they found Helaena putting her children to bed. They demanded a son for a son. Helaena pleaded that they kill her instead, but they refused. She named Maelor as the victim. However, Cheese just told Maelor that his mother wanted him dead, and some believe that Helaena named Maelor because Jaehaerys was heir to the Iron Throne, or because Maelor was just too young to understand. This request became an act of defiance against the Greens, as Blood just beheaded Jaehaerys with a single blow. By the time the guards had came, the Queen was cradling her son's body. Jaehaerys's death would eventually led to his mother's insanity and suicide. He presumably died some time before his father, as his cousin Aegon III Targaryen suceeded his father as King.[1]
Family tree
 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
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Maelor was born in 127 AC. Two years later, his mother brought Maelor and his siblings to visit their grandfather King Viserys I Targaryen on his deathbed and entertained them with a fictional story about their great-great-grandfather King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Maelor was given a pearl ring from Viserys' finger to play with.
Shortly after the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Lucerys Velaryon was killed by Prince Aemond Targaryen in the Dance Over Storm's End. Prince Daemon Targaryen hired the former Gold Cloak Blood and the rat-catcher Cheese to murder one of King Aegon II Targaryen's sons in retaliation. As Queen Helaena Targaryen brought her children to her mother's chambers in the Tower of the Hand, which she did on a nightly basis, the two men ambushed them. The men ordered the queen to choose which of her sons would die. She offered herself, but they refused and she tearfully chose Maelor, whom she deemed too young to understand the situation. Blood decapitated Jaehaerys instead and the two men fled with the prince's head. Maelor was left with the knowledge that his mother had been willing to sacrifice him, over which she was consumed by guilt and could no longer look upon him.
During the Fall of King's Landing, the Master of Whisperers Lord Larys Clubfoot smuggled Maelor and his sister to safety and charged Ser Rickard Thorne to bring Maelor to Oldtown. At Bitterbridge they were ambushed by a mob, who brought down Rickard and tore Maelor to pieces as they each tried to claim him as their prize.
