Aegon III Targaryen

> *"When Jaehaerys’ older twin brother Aegon III then inherited the throne from his niece and his dead wife, he too met with a tragic end in Pinkmaiden, mere days before he was to take the fair maid Perianne Piper to bride. His Grace was found dead in his chamber at the bride’s keep, a hand clutching his chest in death’s throes."*
>
> — Archmaester Bennis

**Aegon III Targaryen**, sometimes referred to as **'the Year King'**, was the ninth Targaryen monarch of Westeros. The younger half-brother and Prince Consort of Queen Baela Targaryen, he inherited the throne after she and their newborn daughter Rhaenyra II Targaryen died in the birthing bed.

Later betrothed to the lady Perianne Piper during his sole year of rule, Aegon would die mere days before the wedding, leaving his brother and heir Jaehaerys II Targaryen to claim the throne. He is remembered as virile and athletic king, though one with an especial love of wine and women. His cause of death is still unknown, though most attribute it to a sudden sickness.

Aegon famously rebuked his elder half-sister, Queen Baela, when they came of age, proclaiming that he could never love a woman 'so wild and boyish as she', but nonetheless married her to become the Prince Consort of Westeros. Aegon also stood as Prince of Dragonstone until the death of Baela and her newborn daughter in 175 AC, at which time he was crowned King.

## Biography

### Early Life

Aegon was born the elder of the twins borne by Queen Myrielle Peake, a boy with the unmistakable blood of Old Valyria; unlike his brother, who took the Andal colouring. Their father, King Aegon II, was said to not be particularly moved by the birth of Aegon and his brother, for the King had been out hunting in the Kingswood during the mother's labour.

With their elder sister Baela entrenched as the heiress due to the dismissal of male primogeniture, the twins were regarded as little more than spares to the heir. Queen Myrielle, on the other hand, became obsessed with her darling twins. She nursed them from her own breast and let no other servants touch them, and they scarce left her side until they became squires in their youth.

Whilst Jaehaerys was an erudite and a budding warrior, Aegon was neither. In truth, he excelled at little as a child, and was often lackadaisical during his lessons with the Grand Maester, much to the grief of all involved.

### Baela's Regency

Following The Blue Dragon Revolt and the demise of King Aegon II, Aegon's half-sister, Baela, was installed as the three-year-old Queen of Westeros. A regency council of Blacks supporters was assembled to govern the realm in her name, whilst the Dowager Queen and her sons disappeared into the background. It was testament to the great political influence of the Blacks and their council that no true effort was made to try and place Aegon on the throne over his elder sister; it seemed that history was still too raw to retread.

Instead, Aegon found himself the brother to a Queen who did not exactly sit her own throne. It granted him a unique level of autonomy, and he soon flaunted his lessons and schooling to compete in tourney, street brawl and tavern fight alike. Aegon had found a great love of adventure, and a companion in his cousin, also named Aegon. The 'two Eggs' were often found capering around the Capital, though it was more oft the senior Aegon getting the younger in trouble -- There were eight years between them, after all, and the younger worshiped the senior with godlike reverence.

Indeed, the younger Aegon was only thirteen when the senior Aegon was bedridden with the lover's pox. 'Aegon the Lusty', as he became known as, passed away with his young cousin at his bedside. One would think that would discourage the prince from pursuing his path in life, but unfortunately, it only seemed to encourage him, for he would simply claim his was honouring, 'his good cousin's memory'.

### Prince Consort of Westeros

When his sister Queen Baela usurped control of the Seven Kingdoms from her regency council in 160 AC, she approached Aegon about the possibility of the two of them being wed, making Aegon the Prince Consort of Westeros. Aegon, rather famously, laughed in his royal sister's face, and proclaimed that he would never love a woman 'like her' -- But nonetheless he agreed to marriage terms and they were wed the next year. His brother, meanwhile, took the lady Visenya Velaryon to wife on Driftmark when he came of age.

Aegon was not a particularly good nor present Prince Consort. With his new access to the wealth of the crown he found himself more partial to whoring, drinking, hunting and jousting. He was certainly a very public consort, but not where it counted. Many testify that the consort's willingness to stray from Baela the Good's bed was why she never came to be with child until late in life. Aegon's brother had already sired three daughters with his Velaryon wife, after all, yet Aegon and Baela remained childless until the Queen was past thirty.

That pregnancy ended, famously, in bloody ruin, killing both the Good Queen and her newborn daughter. Aegon was left as the sole inheritor of the Iron Throne. He named his brother the Prince of Dragonstone, and announced his intentions to find a new bride without a tear of grief for Baela the Good.

### The Year King

Aegon III only ruled for a year, and thus the finer details of his rule are lost majorly to time; there is not much a King could do in a year, after all. However, the predominate focus of Aegon's first and only year as King was to find himself the perfect bride..

After a lengthy deliberation process between the new King and his advisors (and, if the word of Grand Maester Ormund is to be believed, many a portrait sent and exchanged), King Aegon announced he would take Lady Perianne Piper to wife. There was a royal succession to the Riverlands as a result, and much excitement and jubilation at the idea of the royal pairing, for Lady Perianne was said to be exceptionally comely and well-suited to consortship.

### Demise

Unfortunately, this King would be ill-fated as well. Aegon died in Pinkmaiden mere days before he was to wed his betrothed, found in his chambers with a hand to his chest. With his death, his younger twin brother, Jaehaerys II, seized the crown of Westeros as the last living heir of Aegon II.

### Legacy

Aegon III is easily the most forgettable of the Targaryen monarchs. He served for a year, if that, and is more easily recalled as the consort of Baela as opposed to a monarch in his own right.

## Appearance

Aegon was, in many was, the complete opposite of his twin brother Jaehaerys. Whilst Jaehaerys resembled more of their Peake mother, Aegon was the blood of Old Valyria through and through. Clean-shaven, with the rare white-gold hair and blue eyes of the fairest lines of Valyria, the Year King was liable to make man and maiden sigh alike with envy.

## Personality

Even as a prince, Aegon was noted to be very proud and particularly ignoble with his royal status. He was particularly well-known for lucrative spending in the Street of Silk, and is naturally rumored to have fathered many a purple-eyed bastard (though none have been either taken as credible or confirmed, especially after his demise, when any Lyseni get could easily claim to be his son). Lax to a fault and a hedonist, even when he was the King he spent more time hawking, hunting and whoring than in the Small Council chamber or on the Iron Throne.