1) Aegon’s Conquest
We start with Aegon Targaryen, the head of the powerful Targaryen family, deciding to invade Westeros and take it as his own. It’s a story even casual Game of Thrones fans have probably heard in sketches. In this opening chapter, we get descriptions of many the major events we’ve read about in A Song of Ice and Fire, including the burning of Harrenhal, the Last Storm and the Field of Fire, as well as the peaceful submission of the North and the Vale. It’s the details and all the little things that happen around and in between those major points that really caught my interest.
For one thing, “Aegon’s Conquest” actually starts before Aegon’s Conquest. We are told that Aenar Targaryen moved from the Freehold of Valyria to Dragonstone with everything he had 14 years before the Doom decimated the Valyrian civilization. We get the tiniest of glimpses into the politics of old Valyria before it fell, and learn that the Targaryens were by no means the most important of the dragonlords. While theirs seems like the most special of bloodlines in A Song of Ice and Fire, they are suddenly underdogs and even outsiders once they move to Dragonstone.
Throughout the chapter, Martin emphasizes the importance of Oltown before the Conquest. At this point in time, before the continent was unified, Oldtown was the closest thing Westeros had to a capital city. More than even the kings Aegon would dethrone, Oldtown stands to lose everything when Aegon, his sisters-wives and his dragons finally set foot on Westerosi soil, no longer as guests, but as conquerors.
Oldtown is different in this period. The maesters of the Citadel are around, but not yet ubiquitous. Instead, Oldtown is still very much the center of the Faith. Then there’s House Hightower, which does not rule the Reach (that would be House Gardener) but which is nevertheless very powerful. This Oldtown trinity looms large in the first chapter and it will be interesting to follow its development.
A sidenote: Harren the Black seems like an idiot. Why did he not hide in those vaults under Harrenhal from Aegon’s dragonfire? It’s also never made clear why Aegon was so set on taking the Riverlands from him. Aegon seemed to have been prepared to leave the power structure of Westeros alone so long as everybody recognized him as their overlord. Harren didn’t. More fool him.