WiC Reads: Fire & Blood
11) The Long Reign – Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain
Okay, so this chapter immediately proves me wrong: We do hear of Elissa Farman again, albeit briefly. She finds three islands, again not unlike Columbus, and decides to sail further west while Eustace Hightower and his Lady Meredith turn back after the Norman Hightower’s Autumn Moon has sunk.
After that, we get the bulk of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s life together and the stories of their children, most of whom are already dead when their mother dies in 100 AC. Let my try and untangle this family story for you guys. Princess Daenerys is the first royal child to die in this chapter, carried away be the Shivers, an epidemic apparently transmitted by rats that kills many people. The only good thing about this is that it settles the question of succession for Jaehaerys and Alysanne. Prince Aemon now becomes the Prince of Dragonstone.
The next of Alysanne and Jaehaerys’ children to die is Prince Gaemon, their fifth son, “not quite three moons old.” Their sixth son, Valerion, fares only a little better, not quite reaching his first name day. Daella Targaryen, their fourth daughter dies giving birth.
The next death felt much sadder than the rest: Alyssa Targaryen, mother of the next king, Viserys I, and wife of Baelon Targaryen dies some time after giving birth to another Aegon who would not see his first name day. She is considered not as beautiful as many of her sisters because of her long face, mismatched eyes and later her broken nose that healed crooked. (Why are long faces considered nearly indiscriminately not beautiful in this world?) Besides that, she is known for her love of carnal pleasures, something she shares in common with a certain younger sister I’ll mention below. Only in the case of Alyssa, she only enjoys these pleasures with her husband and brother Baelon, the Spring Prince.
Viserra Targaryen, sixth daughter and 10th child of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, is the next to go. Refusing to marry Theomore Manderly, Viserra tries to woo her widowed brother Baelon, who refuses to be seduced by a drunk teenager. Defying her mother, Viserra sneaks away into the city to find some fun and dies in a riding accident.
The last two deaths (not counting that of Alysanne herself and Balerion, who is briefly ridden by young Viserys) are those of the Prince of Dragonstone, Aemon Targaryen — killed by a crossbow bolt meant for Lord Cameron of Tarth while battling Myrish invaders — and of (by now Septa) Maegelle, from greyscale. This leaves House Targaryen with a properly old “Old King” Jaehaerys I, his third son Baelon, the Spring Prince, a widower for 15 years, his exiled sister Saera, a prostitute in Volantis, Baelon’s and Alyssa’s sons Viserys and Daemon and Aemon Targaryen and Jocelyn Baratheon’s daughter Rhaenys, now married to the Sea Snake Corlys Velaryon.
We can already feel the Dance of the Dragons coming. The seeds and sown, and they are strong.