Jacaerys Velaryon

Jacaerys "Jace" Velaryon, also known as Jacaerys Targaryen, is a character in the Fire & Blood chronicle by George Martin, as well its adaptation, House of the Dragon.
== Canon ==
=== Book ===
Jacaerys was the eldest son of Rhaenyra Targaryen, heiress to the Iron Throne, and her first husband, Laneor Velaryon. Both Rhaenyra and Laenor had silver hair, while Jacaerys and his two younger brothers had brown hair. This led to people speculating that they were fathered by Harwin Strong, the brown-haired knight with whom Rhaenyra was close. However, there was also the possibility the boys took after their paternal grandmother, Rhaenys, who had dark hair, or after Rhaenyra's maternal ancestors, the Arryns.
Jacaerys was engaged at a young age to Baela Targaryen. Baela also became his stepsister, when, after Laenor's death, Rhaneyra married Daemon Targaryen, Baela's father. There was unconfirmed speculation that Jacaerys betrayed Baela; with reports that he had slept with or even married a girl called Sara Snow. Regardless, Baela remained a strong supporter of Jacaerys during the war of succession, Dance of the Dragons. After Rhaenyra was proclaimed Queen by her supporters, Jace was named by her as Prince of Dragonstone. 
Jacaerys invited lowborn people with Targaryen blood to claim rideless dragons on Dragonstone, promising them worthy reward if they will fight for his mother's claim. 
When his legal paternal grandfather Corlys wanted to abandon Rhaenyra's cause when Princess Rhaneys fell in battle, Crown Prince persuaded him to stay, and named him Hand of the Queen. At some point Corlys brought with him two silver-haired boys, Addam and Alyn, and insisted they are bastard sons of Laenor, thus Jace's legal half-brothers. Legitimizing them as Laenor's sons would push Jace's brother Joffrey down in succession of Driftmark; neverthless Jacaerys welcomed both Addam and Alyn with open arms and convinced Rhaenyra to legitimize them as his brothers. 
Jacaerys perished in Battle of Gullet during the Dance, never becoming King.
=== Show ===
In the show, the Velaryons are played by black or bi-racial actors and Rhaenys has white hair, which makes it visually clearer to the viewer that Jacaerys and his full-brothers - white, brown-haired boys - are more likely to be the children of Harwin Strong. Rhaenyra confirms herself that Harwin is the biological father of her three eldest children in episode 1x07, when she reveals she and Laenor tried to conceive a child "but to no avail". 
 
When Jacaerys is 10, Rhaenyra wishes to betroth him to her half-sister, Helaena, in the hope of reconciling the two branches of her family; Jacaerys's step-grandmother, Alicent, objects and the betrothal does not proceed. Jacaerys is then engaged to Baela at the age of 16. 
During Dance of the Drgons Jace comes up with idea of looking for new riders among descendants of Tragaryen; however unlike his book counterpart, he means only nobility and he is distrustful of giving dragons to low-borns (which in show is idea of his mother and her lover and advisor, Mysaria). While book Jacaerys was unapologetic of his alleged bastard origins and was eager to use actual bastard riders (perhaps to strength his own case to show how thickle are human social divisions, whereas dragons clearly do not care), show version of Prince seems to detest this idea and even calls Targaryen bastards "mongrels" - he explains to Rhaenyra that his own power as legally legitimate bastard comes form his dragon and not-acknowledged illegitimate Targaryrn descendants could actually weaken his authority and even claim Iron Throne ahead of him, as many have silver hair, while he doesn't. 
Sara and Jace's alleged relationship is, as of July 2024, omitted from the TV adaptation. Additionally, while book Jace was was named Prince of Dragonstone after the start of the Dance, show Jacaerys has not been yet referred to as such. 
== Fandom ==
=== History ===
Jacaerys is the seventh most commonly tagged character on works in the fandom on Archive of Our Own, with more than 5,700 works tagged with his character as of July 2024. 
=== Shipping ===
==== Het pairings ====
Jacaerys Velaryon/Baela Targaryen - Jacaerys is mostly shipped with his canonical fiancée, stepsister and childhood friend, Baela Targaryen. 
Jacaerys Velaryon/Helaena Targaryen - In Fire & Blood there is scene in which Prince asked his half-aunt, Princess Helaena, to dance with him; in the show Rhaenyra proposed marriage between two, which made the pairing more popular among fans. 
Jacaerys Velaryon/Sara Snow - While book!Jacaerys is reported to have an affair or even marry Sara Snow, the two are currently rarely the subject of fanfiction. 
Original Female Characters and Reader Inserts with Jacaerys are also reasonably common under the F/M category of fanworks. 
==== Slash ====
Slash fanworks make up the largest category of fanworks for Jacaerys' pairings on AO3, where he is shipped with his uncles (Aegon II and Aemond), his brother Lucerys, and with Cregan Stark (Sara's brother) with whom he was reported to be close friends in the book.
Jacaerys Vearyon/Aegon II Targaryen
Jacaerys Velaryon/Lucerys Velaryon
Jacaerys Velaryon/Aemond Targaryen
Jacaerys Velaryon/Cregan Stark
=== Fan Commentary and Analysis ===
== Links and Fan Resources ==
* Jacaerys Valaryon tag at AO3
* Jacaerys Valaryon tag at Tumblr
== References ==
Category:House of the Dragon
Category:Characters
Category:House of the Dragon Characters