Daemon I Blackfyre

Daemon I Blackfyre, born Daemon Waters, was a bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and Princess Daena Targaryen. Legitimized by his father upon the latter's death, Daemon took the name "Blackfyre" for himself, after the ancestral Valyrian steel sword of House Targaryen, which his father also bequeathed to him. Despite his bastard status, Daemon believed himself the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and ignited a bloody civil war against his half-brother Daeron II Targaryen. Despite support from nearly half the realm, Daemon and his supporters were routed in the war's final, climactic battle, and Daemon himself perished, along with his two eldest sons.
==Biography==
===Background===
Daemon Blackfyre was the legitimized bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and his cousin, Daena Targaryen.
Despite being a bastard and eleven years younger than the king's legitimate son, Daeron II Targaryen, Daemon presented a threat to his half-brother's succession already during Aegon's reign as Aegon had accused his sister-wife, Queen Naerys Targaryen, of adultery with their brother, Aemon. Though Aemon had successfully defended the queen's honor in a trial by combat, the affair had seeded doubt in Daeron's claim to the throne.
Since Daemon had royal blood from both his father and mother, Aegon had him raised in the Red Keep. As he matured, Daemon grew tall and became a proficient fighter, being knighted by his father at the age of twelve and bestowed with the ancient Valyrian steel sword of Aegon the Conqueror, Blackfyre, shocking the lords of Westeros. Daemon was even allowed to renounce his bastard's name of Waters and take on the name of the sword, becoming known as Daemon Blackfyre.
Aegon legitimized all of his bastards on his deathbed, including Daemon Blackfyre. Daemon and Aegon's other highborn bastards became known as the Great Bastards. Though Daeron, previously the king's only legitimate son, at first ruled without problems, governing the realm wisely and justly and working to correct the wrongdoings of Aegon's reign, many of his vassals disapproved of the reforms, most importantly the peace that Daeron sealed with Dorne, which saw Daeron wed his sister Daenerys to Prince Maron Martell. Daeron had already himself wed Myriah Martell, his queen, before becoming king.
Thanks to Aegon's accusations against his wife and brother many years prior, many also believed that Daeron was a bastard. Those who were unsatisfied with Daeron's rule rallied around Daemon, who at first objected to taking any action, only indulging them out of vanity and courtesy. Though Daemon had been given lands by Daeron, the unsatisfied lords eventually wore him down and Daemon rebelled, launching the First Blackfyre Rebellion, wherein Daemon attempted to claim the Iron Throne as his birthright. Daemon's rebellion ended with his death, twenty-six years old, from wounds sustained at the Battle of Redgrass Field. Daemon had dueled the Kingsguard Ser Gwayne Corbray for an hour at Redgrass Field before he died after being shot with arrows by his half-brother Brynden Rivers and Brynden's men. The sword Blackfyre was lost after Daemon's rebellion.
Daemon fathered four known sons: Aegon, Aemon, Daemon II, and Haegon. Aegon and Aemon, who were twins, died with their father at the Battle of Redgrass Field, but Daemon II and Haegon, as well as Haegon's descendants, would resurface in later years and rebellions, attempting to claim the throne.
===Game of Thrones: Season 1===
Daemon, along with his trueborn siblings and his offspring, is mentioned in the House Targaryen entry of the book The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms. The tome mentions that he rose in rebellion against his half-brother but perished from wounds sustained at the Battle of Redgrass Field.
==Family==
===Ancestors===
===Descendants===
==In the books==
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Daemon is mentioned several times. More of his backstory is revealed in the Dunk & Egg novellas.
Daemon was born Daemon Waters, only taking the name Blackfyre after he had been legitimized by his father. He was named after his great-grandfather Prince Daemon Targaryen, since the latter was the wonder and terror of his day. Maester Yandel would later write that this was a warning to the man Daemon Blackfyre would become.
After the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war between Rhaenyra and Aegon II Targaryen for the Iron Throne, House Targaryen's royal succession laws were revised to put female heirs behind all possible male ones - specifically that if all of one king's sons die, the throne will pass to his younger brother before it passes to his own daughters. Under the normal succession laws of the Andals, a daughter inherits before an uncle. Both Rhaenyra and Aegon II died in the Dance of the Dragons, but were succeeded by Rhaenyra's son Aegon III. His two sons Daeron and Baelor became king after him but died without issue. Aegon III did have three daughters, but at this point the new succession laws came into play, so Baelor, also known as "the Blessed", was succeeded by his father's younger brother Viserys II, who in turn was succeeded by his own son Aegon IV.
Had the new succession laws not gone into effect, the daughters of Aegon III would have inherited ahead of Aegon IV, instead of being skipped over for their uncle Viserys II. As it happened, the oldest and wildest of these three daughters, Daena the Defiant, had an affair with Aegon IV, who is her own first cousin, and they both bore their bastard son Daemon, who would become Daemon Blackfyre in the future. Though Daena refused to reveal the identity of Daemon's father, Aegon IV was already suspected.
As a result, Daemon and the rest of House Blackfyre were descended from Aegon III, who is the older brother, while all subsequent members of the main line of House Targaryen (i.e. Daenerys) are descended from the younger brother Viserys II.
Daemon himself was a bastard, and though legitimized, he was simply younger than Daeron II, the trueborn son of Aegon IV. Therefore, part of his claim to the throne rested on the flimsy accusation that Daeron II himself was a bastard, fathered by Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, the younger brother of Aegon IV. However, others pointed out that Daemon's mother Daena would have been ahead of Daeron II's grandfather Viserys II, had the succession laws not been arbitrarily changed.
Daemon proved to be a great warrior, and one of the most skilled swordsmen of his day, having been trained into mastering all weapons of the battlefield. At 12 years old, he joined and won in a squire's tourney before being knighted by Aegon IV, who proceeded to acknowledged Daemon as his son by bestowing him with Blackfyre. This caused many to believe that the king had favored him to rule instead of Daeron. When Daemon was 17 years old, he participated in the tourney for the wedding of Princess Daenerys Targaryen to Prince Maron Martell of Dorne and was unhorsed in the final tilt by Prince Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen, the eldest son of Daeron II. The reasons that people started to favor Daemon over Daeron was due to the fact that while Dornish influence grew at court and Daeron II was rumored to be illegitimate, Daemon was gifted with Blackfyre, which symbolizes the monarchy. People already were skeptical of Daeron, who was not a martial man and was more scholarly. In fairness, it was rather a long time before Daemon revolted, and it was rumored that his bastard half-brother Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers, who was joined by many lords and knights, has convinced him to do so, along with Ser Quentyn Ball, the master-at-arms of the Red Keep. It slowly became clear that Daemon was already resentful of his status as a bastard and what it represented. Another apparent reason on why he rebelled was because he was denied the chance of marrying Princess Daenerys, whom he is rumored to be in love with.
Ultimately, Daemon Blackfyre proclaimed himself king, plunging the Seven Kingdoms into the First Blackfyre Rebellion. It officially started when King Daeron II heard of Daemon's intent to claim the throne, and sent his Kingsguard to arrest him. However, Daemon escaped thanks to the intervention of Ser Quentyn Ball, and those who had supported Daemon used the attempted arrest as an execuse to start the rebellion, citing that Daeron II had been unprovoked in his actions. During the rebellion, Daemon was joined by some of the greatest knights in the realm, and while it is said that half of Westeros declared for the Black Dragon, not all were eager to give their full support while some houses gave support to both Daemon and King Daeron.
At the climactic Battle of the Redgrass Field, Daemon Blackfyre fought like the Warrior himself with Blackfyre in hand, and engaged in an epic duel with Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard, who wielded the Valyrian Steel sword Lady Forlorn. The duel nearly lasted for an hour before Daemon finally wounded his opponent. Daemon arguably could have won the battle if he'd moved on from Gwayne, but instead he protected his opponent and paid for it with his life - Brynden Rivers and his company of longbowman, the Raven's Teeth, took the Weeping Ridge, and rained arrows down on Daemon Blackfyre and his army from 300 yards away. This resulted in the death of Daemon and his twin eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon. Because of his actions, Brynden was branded a "kinslayer", despite there being no way of knowing whose arrow had struck the fatal blow (though either way, it was a company of archers he commanded).
The death of Daemon I Blackfyre on the Redgrass Field resulted in the end of what was probably the greatest of the Blackfyre Rebellions, and King Daeron II proved to be uncharacteristically ruthless in his punishment of those who supported the Black Dragon; the rebellious lords who had supported Daemon, were stripped of lands, titles, or wealth and they were forced to give in hostages. Despite this, several lords, including Ser Eustace Osgrey, remembered Daemon fondly, even though supporting him costed them very dearly. Years after his death, they unapologetically continued to proclaim him the rightful king until the year where it all began to fade away, which was during the reign of King Aegon V Targaryen. After the death of the Black Dragon, House Blackfyre would launch at least four more rebellions, each one less successful than the last. Up until the days of Robert Baratheon, Daemon Blackfyre was considered the greatest threat House Targaryen had ever faced.
==Gallery==
History and Lineages Blackfyre.jpg|Daemon Blackfyre mentioned in The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms.
Blackfyre Rebellion.png|Daemon leading his army in battle
Daemon Blackfyre versus Gwayne Corbray.png|A depiction of Daemon Blackfyre's duel with Ser Gwayne Corbray in the Battle of Redgrass Field. Daemon wore a stylized warhelm with black steel dragons' wings on the sides, from his sigil.
==Appearances==
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
==References==
===Notes===
==External links==
*
Category:Claimants to the Iron Throne
Category:Crownlanders
Category:Great Bastards
Category:House founders
Category:Individuals from Histories & Lore
Category:Individuals mentioned in Game of Thrones
Category:Knights
Daemon I Blackfyre
Daemon I Blackfyre
de:Daemon I. Schwarzfeuer
fr:Daemon Feunoyr
pl:Daemon Blackfyre
pt-br:Daemon I Blackfyre
ru:Деймон Блэкфайр
uk:Деймон I Блакфаєр