Rhaenys Targaryen (the Queen who Never Was)

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, the daughter of Jocelyn Baratheon and Prince Aemon Targaryen. Also known among the smallfolk as the Queen Who Never Was, was the faithful wife of Lord Corlys Velaryon of Driftmark. She was a dragonrider whose dragon was Meleys, the Red Queen.
== Appearance and Character ==
Rhaenys had a lean lined face and silver hair streaked with white. She was fifty-five years old during the Dance of the Dragons and was still as fierce and fearless as she had been at twenty-two.
== History ==
=== Great Council of 101 ===
Princess Rhaenys was the daughter of Jocelyn Baratheon and Prince Aemon Targaryen. Rhaenys and the late Lord Boremund Baratheon had always been the staunchest of friends.
In 92AC, the Old King, Jaehaerys I Targaryen, chose her uncle Baelon rather than Rhaenys as his heir.
The annals of the Great Council of 101 after Baelon's death record that the lords assembled had favored the male claimant, Viserys, over the female - one of which was Rhaenys - by twenty to one, but there had been dissenters.
House Baratheon had always been a staunch supporter of the claims of Princess Rhaenys and her children. The Starks of Winterfell had spoken for Rhaenys at Harrenhal, as had Lord Stark's bannermen, House Dustin of Barrowton and House Manderly of White Harbour.
=== The Dance of the Dragons ===
Princess Rhaenys sat on the black council of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. When the Velaryon fleet closed off the Gullet, sailing forth from Dragonstone and Driftmark to block all shipping for Blackwater Bay, the black council's plan was for Rhaenys to fly overhead to keep their foes from attacking their ships with dragons.
Nine days after Lord Staunton dispatched a plea for help, the dragon Meleys appeared above Rook's Rest. On her back, in steel and copper armor that flashed in the sun, rode Rhaenys Targaryen.
As Rhaenys attacked the soldiers of Ser Criston Cole, King Aegon II Targaryen upon Sunfyre and Prince Aemond Targaryen upon Vhagar appeared in the skies. Criston had sprung a trap and Rhaenys had snatched the bait.
Princess Rhaenys made no attempt to flee, turning Meleys toward the foe. Against Vhagar alone, Meleys may have won but she stood little chance against both dragons. The dragons met violently a thousand feet above the ground and all three beasts went spinning to the earth. From the ashes, only Vhagar rose unharmed. A body believed to be Rhaenys Targaryen was later found beside the carcass of her dragon, but so blackened no one could be sure it was her.
== References and Notes ==
# The Princess and the Queen.
Category:House Targaryen
Category:House Velaryon
Category:Dragonriders
Category:Female