Young Griff

Prince Aegon Targaryen (disputably King Aegon VI Targaryen), formerly known as Young Griff, is a major character in the epic fantasy novel series and a posthumous character in its 2011-2019 television series adaptation .
Prince Aegon of House Targaryen was the second child and only son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, the heir to the Iron Throne, and his wife Princess Elia of House Martell. Believed to have been murdered by Ser Gregor Clegane when his family was ousted from power, the infant Aegon was allegedly smuggled to Essos by Varys where he was raised by Jon Connington as "Young Griff."
==Appearance==
Aegon Targaryen was a young man with light skin and a lithe build. He bore the physical characteristics of those descended from Old Valyria, those being silver-gold hair and dark purple eyes. In order to protect his identity, Aegon previously dyed his hair blue in keeping with the custom of Tyrosh. Considered exceptionally handsome, he had long eyelashes and no facial hair.
==Aegon Targaryen's history==
===Birth===
A comet was seen above King's Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, which led his father Rhaegar Targaryen to believe that he was the prince that was promised. The comet was seen as "the bleeding star" of the prophecy. Maester Aemon was aware of Rhaegar's beliefs, though it is unclear if he shared them. Aemon would later came to doubt the wisdom of looking for a prince, rather than a princess. He realized there was a translation error, and that the term translated was fluid in terms of gender. This is connected to the term for dragons, which are neither male nor female. It should be noted that at this moment in time, Aemon Targaryen believed Aegon to be dead.
===Sack of King's Landing===
Aegon was just an infant during Robert Baratheon's Rebellion, having been born just a few months before its onset. Prior to the Battle of the Trident, Aegon's great-uncle, Prince Lewyn Martell, was reminded gracelessly by King Aerys II that Aegon, and his sister and mother, were in Aerys' hands. Lewyn was then ordered to take command of the ten thousand Dornishmen who were marching up the Kingsroad. During the Battle of the Trident, Aegons father Rhaegar and great-uncle Lewyn died, amongst others, and King Aerys II decided to send his wife, Queen Rhaella, and their last remaining son, Prince Viserys, to Dragonstone for safety. The original plan had been for Elia to join them, but Aerys came to blame the loss of the battle on Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard, accusing him of having betrayed Rhaegar. He thus chose to keep Elia and her children by his side as hostages to ensure continued Dornish loyalty.
With the death of Rhaegar, Grandmaester Pycelle was convinced that the war was effectively over, and that House Targaryen could no longer offer a proper king to the realm. Pycelle worked to convince Aerys II to open the gates of King's Landing to the Lannister forces, secretly hoping Tywin Lannister would rise to the throne.
A fortnight after the royal forces had left for the Trident, the Sack of King's Landing occured. While this occurred SerJaime Lannister kills the Mad King in the throne room of the Red Keep. Jaime, though the only Kingsguard member left in the city, didn't think his father, whose troops were attacking the city, would harm little Aegon and his young sister. But while Jaime was standing over Aerys' corpse, Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch were already scaling the walls of Maegor's Holdfast. Aegon, his sister and his mother were brutally murdered in the process. 
Unaware of what was occuring at Maegor's Holdfast, Jaime briefly toyed with the idea of proclaiming a new Targaryen king; Tywin Lannister would gain control as Hand of the King, the "wolves" of the North would howl in frustration and Robert Baratheon would choke with rage. For a moment, Jaime found this option tempting, until he recalled that both Aegon and Viserys had inherited the blood of Aerys and with it, the potential for madness. Jaime decided against supporting either one of them.
The deaths of Prince Aegon and his sister Princess Rhaenys would later cause a quarrel between Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon, and also began the feud between House Martell and House Lannister. However, Dorne, after being convinced by Lord Jon Arryn, continued to remain loyal to the Iron Throne, though only by name, as they went into an isolated state and did little interaction with the royal court, causing them to not be seen for many years.
===Accounts and Motivations===
Viserys often told stories to his sister Daenerys. One of these stories involved the Sack of King's Landing by the "Usurper's dogs", Tywin Lannister and Eddard Stark. In this story, Elia Martell was pleading for mercy as Aegon was ripped from her breast and murdered before her eyes. Daenerys later recalled an additional detail, that Aegon's head had been dashed against a wall. This and Viserys' story was proven true when Eddard Stark recalls that "Lord Tywin's soldiers" had torn Aegon from his mother's breast and dashed his head against a wall. They were also said to have dragged Rhaenys from beneath her bed and putting her to the sword. Eddard Stark had heard rumors that it was Ser Gregor Clegane who smashed the skull of the infant Aegon and it was whispered that afterward Gregor had raped Elia Martell, and then also put her to the sword. At the time Gregor was only seventeen. Nobody dared to repeat these rumors when Gregor himself could be listening. According to Tyrion Lannister, the responsibility of Gregor for the murders of Elia and Aegon was "common knowledge" in Casterly Rock. The tale went on that while Gregor raped Elia, his hands were still covered in the blood and brains of Aegon. A wounded Gregor later narrated a brief account of the events to Oberyn Martell, while killing him. He had first killed Aegon, the "screaming whelp", then, after raping Elia, he claimed to have smashed her head with his bare hands, the same method Gregor used to finish off Oberyn.
Tywin Lannister later narrated his view of the events to his son Tyrion; Rhaenys was hiding under Rhaegar's bed, while Elia and Aegon were in the nursery, just a floor below the location of Rhaenys. Tywin had kept the Westerlands from joining Robert's cause for most of the Rebellion. They had only joined said cause at the last stage of the war, and their loyalty would be suspected. He needed a way to demonstrate loyalty to Robert, a way to convince people that the Lannisters had severed all ties to House Targaryen. In addition, Eddard Stark, who assumed leadership of the rebel army, was also heading toward King's Landing, leading Robert's army south from the Trident. Instead of the Lannister and Stark forces meeting as allies, there was still a chance for the two armies to clash. Tywin also feared that his elder son Jaime might do something stupid or that Aerys would kill Jaime for no more reason than sheer spite.
Tywin also narrated his reasons for the murders; By eliminating Rhaegar's children, the Lannisters would be proving their commitment to Baratheon's cause and secure the throne for Robert by eliminating rival claimants for the throne. Tywin himself was somewhat surprised and shocked by the result of his commands. The murders were performed "too brutally" for his needs, and he insisted that Elia didn't have to die, though it happened because he didn't specify she should be spared. He had not grasped yet that Gregor is bestial, not just "terrible in battle".
Prince Oberyn Martell had another view on Tywin's motives. Elia was once supposed to marry Jaime Lannister, based on an agreement between her mother and the late Lady Joanna Lannister. Following the death of Joanna, Tywin broke the agreement, though he offered Tyrion as a a prospective bridegroom instead of Jaime, taunting the Martells. He had also informed them that his own daughter, Cersei, was meant for Rhaegar, not for Oberyn. When Elia married Rhaegar, the Martells had ruined Tywin's plans. Tywin was "not a man to forget such slights", and Oberyn believed that the murder of Elia was decided by Tywin, to teach Elia the same lesson that Houses Reyne and Tarbeck had learned.
Ned Stark recalled how Tywin Lannister presented Robert with the corpses of Elia, Aegon, and Rhaenys: his "token of fealty". Tywin had laid the bodies beneath the Iron Throne, wrapped in the crimson cloaks of his house guard - a clever choice, as the blood was less obvious against the red cloth. Rhaenys had been barefoot, dressed in a bed gown. The condition of Aegon's body horrified Eddard, as the infant's skull was a "red ruin", and even Robert could not stand its sight. Kevan Lannister was also present during this scene, and he was able to recognize Princess Rhaenys, but recalls that nobody could recognize Aegon. All that remained of the boy was a faceless horror of bone, brain, and gore with a few hanks of fair hair. Tywin stated that this was Aegon and everyone else took him at his word. Seventeen years later, however, Kevan expresses uncertainty about the identity of the babe.
===Reactions to Aegon's supposed death===
*Robert I Baratheon was relieved and glad that Rhaegar's children were killed. Robert viewed himself as a hero, and was reluctant to kill children, but he knew Rhaegar's children had to die if his claim to the Iron Throne was to ever be secured. Tywin painted himself as the villain, allowing Robert to keep his hands clean, the reason Robert refused to punish any of the Lannisters for their war crimes. Upon the protest of his friend Eddard Stark that the two children had been no more than babes, Robert proceeded to brand Aegon and his sister as "dragonspawn".
*Tywin Lannister knew that killing both Aegon and Rhaenys would prove to Robert that House Lannister had forsaken House Targaryen for good. Years later, Tyrion came to question the wisdom of the act. Robert Baratheon would have bloodied his own hands, soiling his own reputation, if he had done the deed himself. Instead, the Lannisters had damaged their own reputation, gaining long-term enemies in the process. Tywin Lannister expressed the act as necessary, because House Lannister had come into Robert's Rebellion only at the end.
*Eddard "Ned" Stark expressed disgust over Prince Aegon's brutal death and he proceeded to call it murder, while Robert called it war. When Ned protested that Aegon and Rhaenys were "no more than babes", Robert disagreed, calling the children "dragonspawn". The two get into a heated quarrel over the matter. Lord Jon Arryn, their foster father, was unable to calm them down. Ned Stark then rode out of King's Landing alone in a cold rage, heading south to fight the last battles of Robert's Rebellion on his own before returning to Winterfell. He and Robert would later reconcile over their shared grief over the death of Lyanna Stark.
*Thoros of Myr claims to have personally seen the corpses of Aegon and Rhaenys, as they were placed before the Iron Throne. In his view, House Clegane was "built upon dead children" and their arms should display "two bloody infants".
*Arianne Martell, upon connecting Aegon and Rhaenys' murder to Robert Baratheon's rise to power, developed a hatred for the latter, calling him a monster who climbed onto his throne over the corpses of children. Robert, along with House Lannister, is not held in high regard in Dorne. While House Martell is furious over the murder of Aegon, his sister, and their mother, the Dornish, due to being hot-headed, were unforgiving towards Robert, as he controversially condoned the murders.
*Viserys Targaryen was convinced that the Dornishmen were determined to avenge Elia and her children, and would thus rise to his cause, which proved to be true.
*Years following the murders, Doran Martell, the ruling Prince of Dorne, still mourns over the loss of his sister and her children. According to Varys, Doran's hatred and resentment for House Lannister is well known. Doran himself claims to have been plotting revenge and the downfall of Tywin Lannister since the day he received word of the fates of Elia and her children.
*Oberyn Martell, in his words, hungered for justice for sixteen years. He was certain that Gregor had been following orders rather than acting on his own, and wanted vengeance on the man who gave the orders and not just the man who committed the crime.
*Nymeria Sand, one of Oberyn's bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes, believes that the death of "Lord Tywin's golden twins". Cersei and Jaime, is the only fitting payment for the death of Elia's children. Moreover, Nymeria wanted Cersei and Jaime to pay with their lives for the murder of Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys.
*Jacelyn Bywater tells to Tyrion Lannister that there were still whispers in King's Landings that "the butchery of Rhaegar's children" was one of the sins of House Lannister and that the Gods would punish the entire city for the the act.
*Daenerys Targaryen refuses to see the difference between the roles of Houses Lannister and Stark during Robert's Rebellion. She falsely considers Lord Eddard Stark to also be responsible for the murder of Rhaenys and Aegon, resentfully arguing that "the Usurper's dogs" acted as a pack of hounds, hunting children. Which individual hound kills a child first doesn't matter to Daenerys, as she believed that they are equally guilty. Ser Barristan Selmy disagrees with her, and has tried to explain the distinction between Ned, who wasn't even present at King's Landing, and Tywin. Daenerys noticed a "flicker of disapproval" in Ser Barristan's face when she adamantly insists on her original opinion.
*Barristan Selmy himself has been haunted by the "bloody bodies" of Aegon and Rhaenys. His serious injuries following the Battle of the Trident prevented him from personally examining the corpses, but he wondered for years about whether Robert smiled at the bodies. Barristan concludes that such a smile would've led him to kill Robert, and that no army could have saved him.
*Maester Yandel, when recording the history of Roberts Rebellion in his book The World of Ice and Fire, he tries to paint the events of Aegon and Rhaenys' murder in a way that did not cast a negative light on those who sided with Robert. Yandel himself did so out of fear of angering House Lannister. He writes the following about the murder of Elia and her children...
==Reported survival==
Aboard the Shy Maid a young man claiming to be Aegon explains his apparent survival to Tyrion Lannister. According to his account, the infant killed during the Sack of King's Landing was a tanner's infant son born at the Pisswater Bend, a street of King's Landing.
The child's mother had died at birth, and the tanner sold his baby to Varys for a jug of Arbor gold wine, since he already had other sons, but he had never tasted Arbor gold in his life. Varys then arranged the swap between the two infants. Elia received the tanner's son (whom Tyrion dubs the pisswater prince), while Varys took custody of the real Prince Aegon.
Tyrion Lannister deduces the rest of the story. Once the impostor infant was "safely dead", Varys smuggled the genuine Aegon Targaryen across the narrow sea. Varys first entrusted the boy to Illyrio Mopatis and eventually found an adoptive father for Aegon in the person of exiled Lord Jon Connington. Aegon does not comment on Tyrion's deductions.
There is a hint that Tyrion may have harboured doubts as to whether or not Aegon is actually Aegon Targaryen. When Young Griff loses their game of cyvasse after being tricked by Tyrion he gets angry and kicks over the cyvasse board. He immediately commands Tyrion to pick up the pieces. As Tyrion is about to do so he thinks to himself: "He may well be a Targaryen after all."
Once Aegon and his troops have landed in Westeros, Aegon and his claim is discussed by the Small Council in King's Landing. Here, Kevan Lannister expresses doubts about whether or not Prince Aegon had actually died during the Sack of King's Landing, remembering that no one had dared to look too long at the body of the small babe. When Tywin Lannister had said that the child was Aegon, Rhaegar's son, everyone took him for his word. Kevan doesn't express these doubts out loud to the council, however, keeping them to himself instead. moreover, he brands Aegon as a pretender.
==In books==
===A Clash of Kings===
One of the visions Daenerys Targaryen sees in the House of the Undying involves Rhaegar, Elia, and Aegon. In this vision, a newborn Aegon nurses from the breast of Elia. The woman is seated in a great wooden bed. Rhaegar decides on the name "Aegon" for his newborn son, as he thinks the name fit for a king. Elia asks whether Rhaegar will make a song for their son. He replies that Aegon already has a song, "the song of ice and fire". Part of his role as "the prince that was promised".
However, Rhaegar then claims that there must be "one more", since "the dragon has three heads". Rhaegar moves to a seat near the window, and picks up a harp. Daenerys listens to the "sweet sadness" of his music as the vision fades away.
Daenerys later describes this vision to Jorah Mormont. Jorah helps her confirm the identities of the people in this vision but points out that if Aegon was the promised prince, the promise was broken with his death. Daenerys notices a pattern in the names Rhaegar chose for his children. They were named after Aegon I Targaryen and his sisters. There was a daughter named after the original Rhaenys Targaryen, but none named after Visenya. She wonders if that was the missing third head of the dragon. Neither Daenerys nor Jorah have heard of the term "song of ice and fire". They are unable to determine its meaning.
===A Dance with Dragons===
Coming not so soon!
=== The Winds of Winter ===
When Doran Martell received a letter from Jon Connington that Aegon had survived, he and his daughter Princess Arianne Martell were skeptical of the letter's claim. Doran cautiously sends Arianne to meet with Aegon in order to find the truth.
==Other theories==
However, even though Aegon Targaryen is confirmed to be alive, some, including Kevan Lannister and Daemon Sand, does not approve or believe that Young Griff is Prince Aegon in disguise, believing that it is only Griff's plot to win support.
Young Griff/Aegon claims that he is the son of Rhaegar, rescued by Varys during the Sack of King's Landing. Varys claimed that he switched the baby Aegon with the baby of a commoner and brought Aegon to Essos, to raise and prepare him for his rule and to claim the iron throne when he is old enough The possibility that this is truth exists, Varys has many ways as spymaster to arrange things like, even to prepare, in a worst case scenario, to switch the crown prince with a baby of the same age.
The circumstance that this occured during of the Sack of King's Landing has brought up the question if Varys had enough time to do that, but it's important to know that Aerys II had already planned the Wildfire plot, the destruction of King's Landing through wildfire, before, and this gave Varys enough time to find a suitable baby for the switch, to have a chance to ensure the Targaryen-Dynasty would live on.
When Varys murdered Kevan Lannister, who was Lord Regent at this time, to prevent him of undoing the damage caused by his niece Cersei Lannister, he revealed that Aegon is really the son of Rhaegar. Because Ser Kevan was killed a few moments after this revelation, Varys therefore had no reason to make up a lie.
=== A Blackfyre ===
However, some readers theorized that Young Griff is in truth a Blackfyre, a descendant of Daemon I Blackfyre, a bastard of Aegon IV who rebelled against the Iron Throne like his offsprings which resulted in more than one battle. Officially the male Blackfyre-line was wiped out when Ser Barristan Selmy killed Maelys Blackfyre, but Young Griff could be related to this House Blackfyre. Bookreaders have theorized that the Golden Company would never back a Targaryen after they have fought for generations against them. Illyrio mentioned towards Tyrion Lannister that the Blackfyres are extinct in the male line (information that is not varifiable, neither for Tyrion nor for the bookreaders), which could imply there are still female-line descendants.
Or that, Maelys had a wife and children in secret. In this case, because of the age, Young Griff could be his grandson. Or he is in a similar way related to another known Blackfyre of the timespan, a man who bears the same name like their ancestor, another Daemon Blackfyre who was killed by Maelys when both fought over the command of the Golden Company. It is also theorized Aegon could also be descended from another of Aegon IV's bastards, Aegor Rivers "Bittersteel", founder of the Golden Company, who married one of his half-brother Daemon's daughters, Calla, though it is unknown if he had children or what happened to Daemon's daughters.
=== An impostor/Fake Targaryen ===
Some readers believed that Young Griff is just a boy with the right age and look. Shortly before his death Kevan Lannister mentioned in a Small Council meeting that Young Griff isn't Aegon, just a boy as part of a plot to gain support for the Golden Company. That's also possible because in Essos, in the Free Cities, are people who descend from Valyria, with the purple eyes and the hair of silver-gold or platinum white. It is known that Targaryen kings looked for brides in the Free Cities like Lys to find right matches for their sons, especially when there were no other girls available, like sisters/cousins of House Targaryen or daughters of other Valyrian families, like House Velaryon. Varys and Illyrio Mopatis could have found a boy with the right age and look to portray him as Aegon, so that he can gain support. Varys is originally from Lys and had as spymaster still contacts to all Free Cities, including his hometown so that he could arrange such a scheme. Ironically this could mean that even if Aegon is really just a boy of right look and age, he could still have Targaryen-blood in his veins because Aerion Targaryen, who was called "Brightflame", had spent time in Lys during his exile, rode with the Second Sons and could have fathered a few bastards during his time there.
=== Son of Illyrio Mopatis ===
Others suggested that Young Griff is the son of Illyrio Mopatis. This explains why Illyrio is helping him. Tyrion thinks there is something more Illyrio is getting from his plan to cause a Targaryen restoration. Illyrio married a Lysene pillowhouse worker, Serra, and Lys is known to have people with Valyrian features, like mentioned above. This could fit in with the theory of Aegon being a Blackfyre (the female line) or descended from Aerion's bastards, as Serra's ancestry has not been revealed. A statue of Illyrio Mopatis as a youth has similarities to Aegon, further supporting this theory.
==Line of succession to the Iron Throne==
After Rhaegar died on the Trident, Prince Viserys Targaryen was apparently named heir to the throne by King Aerys II Targaryen, while Aegon was still alive. After Aerys's death Viserys was declared king on Dragonstone. Viserys would later name his sister Daenerys his heir, by declaring her to be the Princess of Dragonstone.
Aegon himself, as well as Tyrion Lannister, believe Aegon's claim is stronger than Daenerys's claim. According to the relevant succession laws, "The sons of the first son come before the second son".
Aegon is a son of Rhaegar Targaryen, who was himself the eldest son of Aerys II Targaryen, which would, under normal circumstances, place Aegon higher in the Targaryen succession line than both Viserys (Aerys II's second son) and Daenerys (the daughter of Aerys II). However, documents from the end of King Aerys II's reign give doubt to the fact that Aegon's claim is truly stronger.
In both 92 AC and 101 AC, the succession of House Targaryen was brought into question when the proclaimed heir of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen died. On both occasions, the male line through a younger son was chosen over the female line through the elder (but deceased) son, by first choosing the King's second son, Baelon, over the elder son's heir, Rhaenys, and by later chosing Baelon's elder son over Rhaenys's son, after Baelon's death. According to Archmaester Gyldayn, in the eyes of many, the council of 101 AC established an iron precedent on matters of succession: that the Iron Throne could not pass to a woman, or to a male descendant of a woman. King Viserys I wished to set a new precedent by naming his daughter Rhaenyra his heir, despite the fact that he had three sons, an issue over which eventually a civil war called the Dance of the Dragons was fought. When King Baelor I Targaryen died without a son of his own, and without having proclaimed a specific heir, the claims of all three of Baelor's sisters, as well as the claim of Baelor's uncle (his closest living male relative) were discussed. The claims of his sisters were eventually dismissed. Further, in the Great Council of 233 AC, Aegon V Targaryen was crowned King despite the fact that the infant son of his older brother was still alive.
After her brother's death in Vaes Dothrak, Daenerys names herself a queen. If Aegon’s claim is a rightful one then the people of Westeros might see his claim as stronger than Daenerys's claim. Nevertheless, Daenerys is Queen of Meereen in her own right, having conquered the city and installed herself as ruler.
However, in contrast to the alleged Aegon Targaryen, Daenerys Targaryen's lineage is not under suspicion, as Kevan Lannister says no man can question Daenerys's blood (thanks to her dragons).
==Powers & Abilities==
===Abilities===
*Keen Intellect: In order to be better prepared for the Iron Throne, Aegon received a full education since his youth that covered a variety of topics. His primary tutors were Haldon "Halfmaester" and Septa Lemore, who instructed him in general and religious affairs respectively. He learned about history, poetry, and law, and was able to read and write. He was also taught about the Faith of the Seven, which was revered by most people in the Seven Kingdoms, and could speak several languages. Due to his upbringing under Lord Connington, he could cook, swim, bind wounds, catch fish, repair and wash his clothes, and do numerous other things that nobles typically took for granted.
*Combat Proficiency: Aegon was, by Varys' account, trained in arms, and as such presumably possesses at least a fair competency in combat as Lord Connington is unlikely to have allowed him to be anything less.
==Gallery==
Enife young griffII.jpg
Aegon or FAegon.jpg
King Aegon by lupotterdraws.jpg
Griff young griff.jpg|Young Griff and Griff have both dyed their hair in blue.
Borja Pindado-Aegon's unexpected return.webp|Aegon leading the Golden Company.
Young_griff_by_Winona_Nelson.jpg
==Trivia==
* In the TV series, Prince Aegon was killed off rather than having possibly survived.
* Unlike Daenerys, Young Griff is actually willing to make peace with his enemies, as he suggested convincing Stannis Baratheon to renounce his own claim and fight for him. However, his Hand Jon Connington dismissed this idea, stating that Stannis is an enemy with little to no friends who will soon die in the snow at the hands of House Bolton.
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