The Mysterious Tragedy That Led to the Beginning of ‘Game of Thrones’

The Big Picture

• The Tragedy at Summerhall all began with Aegon V, a man who was never meant to be king.
• The Summerhall Tragedy altered Targaryen succession and served as an indictment of the magical abilities that made the Targaryens so great.
• Magic-led tragedies haunt Targaryen history, being the root of their downfall despite once being a source of power

In the world of Westeros, the Iron Throne is a corrosive form of influence, cutting those who are deemed unworthy to sit upon it and often creating a false sense of superiority for those who claim it. There are many terrible rulers abound in Targaryen history, but under the right circumstances, even the best of kings can still be turned into monsters by the corruption of power. Perhaps no better example exists than Aegon V, whose cautionary tale is that being a good man does not translate to being a good king, something that future monarchs of Westeros would do well to remember. Decades before the events of Game of Thrones and the War of the Five Kings, the final tragedy of Aegon changed the history of the Seven Kingdoms forever and indirectly led to the eventual rise of Mad King Aerys (David Rintoul), who spelled an end to their reign.

Not only did the event forever alter the line of Targaryen succession, but it served as an indictment of the magical abilities that made Aegon and his family kings in the first place. Even while not completely revealed to the audience, the mysterious but horrifying events of Summerhall follow a long pattern of disastrous attempts to bend magic to human will, leading to terrifying consequences for everyone involved.

Aegon V Was Never Meant To Be King

Born a full one hundred years before the Red Wedding, Prince Aegon was the fifth child of King Maekor Targaryen I, himself the fourth child of the previous king. Since he was never expected to rule, he instead spent his time adventuring with his close friend, the hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall throughout the realm. Keeping his head shaved to conceal his distinctive Targaryen silver blonde hair, Aegon gained an unusual degree of respect for the peasantry of Westeros during his travels and became involved in plots against the Blackfyres, the cadet branch and infamous rivals to the main Targaryen line. Although born an entire century before the War of the Five Kings, the world inherited by Dunk and Egg, as they came to be known, still had some recognizable similarities to the version of Westeros viewers would see in the original series. Both met an infant Walder Frey (David Bradley) at one point and Aegon’s older brother was none other than a young Maester Aemon (Peter Vaughan) in training. Additionally, George R.R. Martin himself has confirmed Duncan to be a recent ancestor to the equally chivalrous Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) decades before her family became incorporated into the nobility.

About forty years before Robert’s Rebellion, King Maekar was killed in battle during another uprising, one of many failed revolts by the Blackfyres. His two eldest sons, Daeron the Drunkered and the sadistic Aerion Brightflame, were both dead and Aerion’s young son Maegor was suspected to have inherited that sadisitic nature all too common to Westeros. This made Aemon and Aegon the only possible heirs. For the second time in Targaryen history, the lords of Westeros summoned a Great Council to resolve the succession crisis. Aemon declined the position in order to finish his work as a Maester, leaving “Aegon the Unlikely” to claim the Iron Throne for himself.

Dreams, Dragons, and Death at Summerhall

Ever since the conquest of Westeros by King Aegon Targaryen I three centuries before the main story, the greatest dynasty of the Seven Kingdoms was defined by their dragons. By the time of his reign, however, the Dance of the Dragons had been over for a hundred years and the dragons had mostly perished during the civil war itself. Although the Targaryen dynasty had survived and remained relatively strong, the reforms Aegon had enforced in favor of the smallfolk caused resentment among the noble class. Especially when his eldest son married a commoner woman, Jenny of Oldstones, instead of his Baratheon bride and renounced his claim to the Iron Throne in the process.

Although the last of his three sons was also killed in battle, the reign of Aegon V appeared relatively peaceful, welcoming two new grandchildren, Aerys and Rhaella, through his second son, Jaehaerys II. Typical to the twisted royal lineage of the Tarygaryen dynasty, the future Mad King was forced to marry his sister in the same manner as his own parents, who believed the Azor Ahai prophecy would be fulfilled through their lineage. Convinced that he needed to resurrect the dragons to enforce his reforms in favor of the smallfolk, Aegon summoned the royal court to the castle of Summerhall to celebrate the birth of Rhaegar, the newborn son of Aerys, and conduct a magical ritual using seven dragon eggs to honor the seven gods of the Faith in Westeros.

The events of Summerhall are still shrouded in mystery and even the published history book of Westeros, The World of Ice and Fire, refuses to explain them in detail. While it might be explored in a future Dunk and Egg novella or a later season of the upcoming adaptation, what we do know is that it reportedly involved sorcery, wildfire, and dragon eggs, resulting in the deaths of King Aegon himself and former Prince Duncan the Small. Ever since their ancient rise in Old Valyria, dragon birthing rituals have been horrifying affairs that defy morality, so one can only imagine the horrors which might have taken place within the walls of that castle. Although Rhaegar was successfully delivered by Rhaella during the fiery ritual, Ser Duncan the Tall, now Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, also perished heroically while saving lives. With the death of his father, Jaehaerys II became king, but died after only four years and was succeeded by Aerys II, known to history as the Mad King and the last Targaryen monarch of the Seven Kingdoms.

In Westeros, Using Magic Comes With Consequences

The disastrous attempt to resurrect the dragons did more than simply claim the life of King Aegon V, his best friend, and his eldest son. In addition to placing an unfit ruler directly in line for the Iron Throne, it destroyed Aegon’s own legacy, both personally and politically. When the young Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) was named Hand of the King by Aerys, he quickly reversed all the reforms Aegon V created for the smallfolk of Westeros, and they became largely forgotten. This, in turn, led to the fierce rivalry between Aerys and Tywin that directly contributed to usurping of the Targaryen throne.

From the Doom of Valyria to the Dance of the Dragons, magic might have been the source of Targaryen power since the days of the Freehold and the Conquest, but it has also proven to be their downfall. The demise of King Aegon Targaryen V of Westeros not only represents a stark contrast with the young boy we meet in the novellas, but a horrific tragedy with enormous political implications for a family often prone to destroying itself throughout history. Like many of the great Targaryen monarchs before and since, attempting to control this mysterious force from an even stranger and mystical part of the known world left only death and destruction in its wake.

Throughout Westeros, it has often been said that only death can pay for life, but the emergence of the equally doomed Prince Rhaegar on that fateful day cost far more lives than it created, both directly and indirectly. The final act of Aegon the Unlikely also changed the history of the dynasty for the worse and brought House Targaryen crashing down in the aftermath.

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