Jaehaerys outlived most of his children. When his eldest son died, the succession became unclear. The Great Council of 101 AC chose his grandson Viserys I over Laenor Velaryon (who was a child and whose claim came through a female line). It was a peaceful decision, but it established a dangerous precedent: the lords of Westeros believed they could choose the king.
Viserys I’s reign was pleasant but fatal. He named his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir, then remarried and had sons by Alicent Hightower. When Viserys died, the Greens (Alicent’s faction) crowned Aegon II; the Blacks (Rhaenyra’s faction) declared for her. Both had dragons.
The Dance of the Dragons was a civil war that killed thousands and destroyed the Targaryens’ greatest weapon—their dragons. Dragon fought dragon above castles, fields, and seas. At the Battle Above the Gods’ Eye, Prince Aemond and Daemon Targaryen plunged to their deaths in a murder-suicide of two great dragons. The Storming of the Dragonpit saw a mob of desperate smallfolk slaughter five dragons in one night. The Rise Of The Dragon Pdf
By the end, both Rhaenyra and Aegon II were dead. The crown passed to Rhaenyra’s son, Aegon III, a traumatized boy who had watched his mother devoured by a dragon before his eyes. He became known as Aegon the Dragonbane. Under his reign, the last dragons sickened and died—small, stunted, and twisted.
"The Rise of the Dragon" chronicles the transformation of China from an agrarian, isolated society into a global manufacturing powerhouse and the world’s second-largest economy. The narrative moves beyond simple GDP statistics to analyze the political economy of this rise—specifically how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leveraged market mechanisms while maintaining political control. The report highlights that China’s growth was not accidental but the result of deliberate, experimental policies, and it concludes by addressing the structural "growing pains" currently facing the economy. Jaehaerys outlived most of his children
Subject: Geopolitical, Economic, and Technological Analysis of China’s Ascendancy Date: October 26, 2023 Type: Strategic Overview
The Conquest forged the kingdom; the next generations forged the peace. Aegon’s son Aenys was weak and indecisive, nearly losing the realm to rebellions. He was succeeded by his half-brother Maegor the Cruel, a brutal warrior who rode Balerion and killed any who opposed him—including his own nephews. Maegor’s reign was a blood-soaked nightmare, but he crushed the Faith Militant, a religious army that had risen against Targaryen incest and dragon-rule. It was a peaceful decision, but it established
When Maegor died (found impaled on the Iron Throne’s spikes, possibly suicide or murder), the crown passed to Jaehaerys I, Aenys’s son. Jaehaerys the Conciliator would become the greatest Targaryen king. He reigned for fifty-five years, reconciled with the Faith (codifying Targaryen exceptionalism—the doctrine that Targaryens were not bound by incest prohibitions), built the Kingsroad, established a unified code of laws, and kept the realm at peace. He and his sister-wife Good Queen Alysanne flew their dragons to the Wall and doubled the Night’s Watch’s land.
The Rise of the Dragon gives special attention to this era, with detailed illustrations of the dragonriders and their mounts. Jaehaerys’s reign was the golden afternoon of Targaryen power—before the shadow fell.