Dragonstone

**Dragonstone** is a castle on the island of the same name at the entrance to Blackwater Bay, below the Dragonmont. It was the original seat of House Targaryen in Westeros, and had been colonized and fortified as the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Shaped from stone to look like dragons, the castle has a dark reputation.

After Aegon's Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, Dragonstone in the newly-created Crownlands serves as the seat of their heir apparent, known as the Prince of Dragonstone.

Dragonstone, though old and strong, commands the allegiance of only a few lesser lords whose islands are too thinly populated to provide any great numbers of troops, although they have some naval strength. A short distance west of Dragonstone is the island of Driftmark, which is the seat of House Velaryon, a Valyrian house and historically a naval power. Other houses sworn to Dragonstone include Celtigar of Claw Isle, who are also of Valyrian descent, Seaworth of Cape Wrath, Bar Emmon of Sharp Point, and Sunglass of Sweetport Sound.

## Household

Aemon's wife, Vaenys, and his two sons, Aerys and Maeghar, remain on Dragonstone, with two maesters and a septon.

At the start of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen's reign, Dragonstone had a garrison of twenty archers and as many guardsmen. When the Dance of the Dragons began, the castle had a garrison of thirty knights, a hundred crossbowmen, and three hundred men-at-arms.

## Layout

A grim place, Dragonstone was built by Valyrians with arcane arts, fire, and sorcery. Capable of liquefying and reshaping stone with dragonflame, the dragonlords used their magic to shape Dragonstone to look like multiple dragons.

Dragon architecture can be found throughout the castle, such as small dragons framing gates and dragon claws holding torches. A pair of great wings cover the armoury and smithy, and dragon tails form archways and staircases. The citadel of Dragonstone is wrought all of black stone. Doors can be set in the mouths of stone dragons. Instead of merlons, gargoyles and grotesques serve as brooding crenellations along the three curtain walls. Designs include basilisks, cockatrices, demons, griffins, hellhounds, manticores, minotaurs, wyverns, and other creatures. Statues in the shape of dragons can be found all over the castle. Dragonstone has a castle yard and a library. There is a fishing village with a port beneath the curtain walls. King Aegon I Targaryen was fond of the salty air of Dragonstone, which smells of smoke and brimstone.

Notable locations at Dragonstone include:

* The Stone Drum is a massive tower which serves as the central keep of Dragonstone. It is named for the booming and rumbling sounds that can be heard during storms. To reach the Stone Drum from Sea Dragon Tower, one must cross the gallery and pass through the middle and inner walls. A high stone roofed bridge arching over emptiness leads from the Stone Drum to the entrance towards the dungeons. The Chamber of the Painted Table is a round room on the top floor of the Stone Drum. It holds a large table, the Painted Table, carved and painted in the form of a detailed map of Westeros.

* The Great Hall is carved in the shape of a huge dragon lying on its belly; the heavy red doors of the hall are set in the mouth, and those entering pass beneath the gateway teeth and through the dragon's maw.

* The kitchens resemble a curled up dragon where smoke and heat vent through its nostrils.

* Sea Dragon Tower, shaped like a dragon gazing serenely out across the sea, includes the maester's chambers and the rookery.

* The Windwyrm is a tower shaped like a dragon which seems to scream defiance.

* Aegon's Garden can be reached when going down after the arch of the Dragon's Tail. Within grow tall dark trees, wild roses, towering thorny hedges, and cranberries. The garden has a pleasant piney scent.

* The sept of Dragonstone, dedicated to the Faith of the Seven, contains statues representing the seven aspects of the Seven gods, carved from the masts of the ships that had carried the first Targaryens from Valyria, but have frequently been repainted since then. The statue of the Crone has pearl eyes, the Father a gilded beard, and the Stranger looks more animal than human.

* A turnpike stair and smooth stony passages lead to cells beneath Dragonstone. Walls in the dark dungeon are warm to the touch.

## History

### Foundation

Two centuries before the Doom, Valyrians took possession of the island and built a castle upon it, which became the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. The castle towers were shaped by Valyrian magic to look like dragons to make the castle look fearsome, and they placed a thousand gargoyles upon the walls.

### Targaryen Lords

Twelve years prior to the Doom of Valyria, Aenar Targaryen, the head of the Targaryen family, relocated his family, their five dragons, and all their wealth to Dragonstone, after his maiden daughter Daenys predicted the destruction of the Valyrian Freehold. In Valyria their rivals saw this as an act of cowardly surrender. Four of the dragons brought from Valyria eventually died on Dragonstone, leaving only Balerion. However, two ‎eggs hatched and Vhagar and Meraxes were born.

Aenar ruled as the first Lord of Dragonstone, and was succeeded by his son, ‎Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon's children, ‎Aegon and Elaena, ruled together as kin and a couple, and were succeeded by their own son, Maegon, and later Maegon's younger brother, Aerys. Aerys's three sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion ruled Dragonstone in turn. Daemion kept a maester at Dragonstone, as did his descendants. Daemion's son Aerion inherited the seat. His only son by Lady Valaena Velaryon, Aegon Targaryen, was the last Lord of Dragonstone before Aegon's Conquest.

### Aegon and His Sons

Lord Aegon Targaryen planned his invasion of Westeros from the Chamber of the Painted Table. At the start of the Conquest, Aegon called bannermen and allies to Dragonstone, including the Velaryon's of Driftmark, the Celtigar's of Claw Isle, the Bar Emmon's of Sharp Point, and the Massey's of Stonedance. Aegon and his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys, conquered six of the Seven Kingdoms, with only Dorne remaining independent. Ser Quenton Qoherys, the master-at-arms of Dragonstone, was named Lord of Harrenhal by Aegon.

Aegon established his new seat, the Aegonfort, where he first made landfall at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. The city of King's Landing, the new capital, eventually formed around it. Aegon divided his reign between King's Landing, Dragonstone, and royal progresses throughout the realm. The king raised his eldest son and heir, Prince Aenys at King's Landing, while Queen Visenya raised Aegon's younger son, Maegor at Dragonstone. In time, Maegor became known as the "Prince of Dragonstone". In 35 A.C., the Aegonfort was torn down in preparation for the construction of the Red Keep, so Aegon the Conqueror returned to his beloved Dragonstone. Two years later Aegon died from a stroke while in the Chamber of the Painted Table. Vhagar burned the king's body in the castle yard.

Maegor remained the Prince of Dragonstone during the early years of Aenys I's reign, but after Maegor was exiled in 41 A.C. for taking Alys Harroway as a second wife at Dragonstone, Aenys established "Prince of Dragonstone" as a formal title by appointing it to his own heir, Prince Aegon.

At the start of the Faith Militant uprising, King Aenys I fled to the safety of Dragonstone, where he collapsed and died after hearing that his children, Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaena, were besieged at Crakehall. Aenys's body was burned at Dragonstone by Quicksilver, Vermithor, and Silverwing.

Maegor returned from his exile in Pentos, took Aegon's crown at Dragonstone, and claimed the Iron Throne. Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon, Aenys's widow, and her two younger children, Prince Jaehaerys and Princess Alysanne, fled from Dragonstone to Driftmark, but they were later kept at Dragonstone by Dowager Queen Visenya. Prince Aegon was killed by Maegor in the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye.

Following Visenya's death in 44 A.C., Alyssa stole Dark Sister and escaped with her youngest children on Vermithor and Silverwing. After being found dead on the Iron Throne in 48 A.C., Maegor's body was burned in King's Landing and his ashes were interred on Dragonstone.

### Jaehaerys the Conciliator

King Jaehaerys I Targaryen continued the use of the title Prince of Dragonstone for the heir apparent. When his advisors decided that Princess Alysanne Targaryen should wed Orryn Baratheon in 48 A.C., Jaehaerys fled with his sister to Dragonstone, where the pair were wed by Septon Oswyck. Lord Rogar Baratheon travelled to Dragonstone and attempted to break up the marriage, but he acquiesced when faced with the Kingsguard and Ser Merrell Bullock's garrison. Jaehaerys and Alysanne remained at Dragonstone for the rest of his minority. The young king received visitors in the Chamber of the Painted Table and trained with the Kingsguard, Merrell and his sons Alyn and Howard, and Ser Elyas Scales. The Wise Women were sent by Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon to aid Alysanne.

Jaehaerys departed Dragonstone for King's Landing in the ninth month of 50 A.C. The king allowed his sister, Rhaena Targaryen, to hold Dragonstone in his name. Called the Queen in the West while at Faircastle, Rhaena became known as the Queen in the East. Rhaena's daughter, Princess Aerea Targaryen, disliked living at Dragonstone, which she considered dull in comparison to the Red Keep. Elissa Farman, Rhaena's close friend, eventually departed Dragonstone with three stolen dragon eggs. Rhaena's husband, Androw Farman, jumped to his death after admitting to having poisoned Maester Culiper, Cassella Staunton, Septa Maryam, Alayne Royce, Samantha Stokeworth, and Lianna Velaryon. Rhaena abandoned Dragonstone after the disappearance of Aerea on Balerion. After Aerea's death, Rhaena spent her remaining years at Harrenhal.

In 62 A.C. Jaehaerys granted the title of Prince of Dragonstone to Aemon Targaryen, and the title passed to Baelon Targaryen after Aemon's death in 92 A.C. Princess Daella Targaryen wed Lord Rodrik Arryn in Dragonstone's sept in 80 A.C. The ashes of Daella and her sister, Princess Daenerys, were interred at Dragonstone after their deaths. During the First Quarrel, Queen Alysanne lived at Dragonstone in a self-imposed exile. She eventually died there in 100 A.C.

After Baelon's death and the Great Council of 101 A.C., Jaehaerys named his grandson Viserys as Prince of Dragonstone. The ashes of Jaehaerys were interred beside those of Alysanne when the Old King died in 103 A.C.

### Dance of the Dragons

*Main Article: Dance of the Dragons*

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen became the first Princess of Dragonstone in 105 A.C., when she was officially declared to be the heir of her father, King Viserys I Targaryen. Angry at the decision, Prince Daemon Targaryen fled to Dragonstone with his paramour, Mysaria, and lived there for half a year. Rhaenyra took Dragonstone as her seat in 113 A.C. Rhaenyra secretly wed Daemon at Dragonstone in 120 A.C.

Rhaenyra was on Dragonstone when her half-brother, Aegon II Targaryen, claimed the Iron Throne in 129 A.C. after the death of Viserys. Rhaenyra was crowned at Dragonstone, and from her own seat, she led the Blacks against Aegon II's Greens during the ensuing Dance of the Dragons. Ser Arryk Cargyll, a supporter of Aegon, infiltrated Dragonstone, but he and his twin, Rhaenrya's Erryk, died fighting each other. Dragonseeds attempted to tame dragons on Dragonstone. The Triarchy ignored Dragonstone during the Battle of the Gullet.

Joffrey Velaryon was formally installed as Prince of Dragonstone after the fall of King's Landing to Rhaenyra's forces. Ser Robert Quince, castellan of Dragonstone, protected Lady Baela Targaryen during the war. Joffrey died attempting to stop the Storming of the Dragonpit. After fleeing the capital, Rhaenyra insisted on returning to Dragonstone in late 130 A.C. Ser Alfred Broome had orchestrated the fall of Dragonstone to Aegon the Elder, however, and the king fed his half-sister to Sunfyre in the yard. Baela and Rhaenyra's son, Prince Aegon the Younger, were imprisoned in the dungeon. Sunfyre died of his wounds in the outer yard of the castle.

At the end of 130 A.C, Aegon II returned to King's Landing from Dragonstone on Velaryon ships. After Aegon the Elder died of poison in 131 A.C., Dragonstone's garrison refused to submit to Aegon the Younger, King Aegon III Targaryen. The servants of the castle rebelled, however, and yielded Dragonstone to Alyn Velaryon.

After the death of Lord Corlys Velaryon in 132 AC, his body was buried aboard *Sea Snake* in the waters east of Dragonstone. Alyn and Baela wed in Dragonstone's sept in 132 AC. Lady Rhaena Targaryen, Baela's twin, resided at Dragonstone after learning to ride Morning. After the death of Rhaena's husband, Ser Corwyn Corbray, Baela traveled from Driftmark to Dragonstone to comfort her sister.