7 Game of Thrones characters who could appear in Dunk and Egg prequel

3. Aerys II Targaryen

Depending on how long the shows lasts, we may even get to see a young version Daenerys Targaryen’s father the Mad King Aerys.

Aerys’ father Jaehaerys was seemingly keen on the Prince Who Was Promised prophecy, which foretells that a great hero will save the realm from darkness; we heard a version of it in House of the Dragon. Because a woods witch told him that the Prince Who Was Promised would come from his line, Jaehaerys had his son Aerys and his daughter Rhaella marry each other against their will, and much to the chagrin of his own father Egg. Egg did not approve of the Targaryen incest practice but Jaehaerys and Shaera did not care.

Egg’s rule was difficult. Many of the lords of Westeros were angry with Egg because he gave the smallfolk more rights and privileges. During a difficult winter, Egg also sent food and supplies to the North, which angered the rest of the realm.

When the winter ended, the fourth Blackfyre rebellion sprouted, prompting Egg and his sons to meet the rebels in battle in 236 AC. Daemon III Blackfyre invaded the mainland alongside the longtime Blackfyre ally Aegor ‘Bittersteel’ Rivers. This rebellion was put down with relative ease, but Egg was angry that Westeros kept pushing back against his decrees. Egg started to seek a way to make them bend to his proclamations. This line of thinking resulted in Egg becoming obsessed with hatching dragon eggs. At this time there were no more dragons in Westeros, but Egg saw the creatures that put his family on the thrown in the past as the only way to keep them there in the present.

This all culminated with the tragedy at Summerhall, the details of which are purposely ambiguous because a big reveal is supposedly slated for a future story. Perhaps the Dunk and Egg show will get to this point where we see the events at Summerhall. What we know is that Egg gathered his family at Summerhall, which was a sort of vacation home for the Targaryen family. It it theorized that Egg attempted to perform a dragon hatching ritual involving seven dragon eggs, pyromancers and wildfire. It is implied that Egg, his son and heir Duncan the Small and Dunk all died in the fire with possibly many more perishing in the flames. It is also heavily implied that before Dunk died, he saved a pregnant Rhaella from the tragedy and she subsequently gave birth to Rhaegar while Summerhall burned.

This tragedy led to the ascension of Aerys’ father Jaehaerys II as king, but he only lasted a short while before succumbing to illness. In 262 AC, Aerys climbed the steps of the Iron Throne, thus beginning the reign of the final Tagaryen king before Robert Baratheon toppled the dynasty.