The start of the civil war is caused by a problem in the family trees of Alicent Hightower and Daenerys Targaryen. The story will be shown on The House of Dragons.
House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, is almost here. The story of the Targaryen civil war will be told. It happened about 200 years before the events in “Game of Thrones.” The first episode of the series is set to come out on August 22, 2022.
Alicent Hightower
Family Tree of the Alicent Hightowers
Ser Otto Hightower, Lord Hightower’s younger brother, had Alicent Hightower. Her father was the Hand of the King for Jaehaerys I, Viserys I, and finally Aegon II.
When her father was named Hand of the King by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen in 101 AC, Alicent, then 13 years old, went to court with him, her mother, and her brothers. Eventually, as his health got worse, King Jaehaerys made her his regular companion.
She read to him, helped him get dressed and clean himself, and fed him. Ice and Fire wiki says that because she was close to the king, he sometimes thought she was his daughter Saera Targaryen.
After the king died, she stayed at the court because her father was still a Hand for the new king, Jaehaerys’s son Viserys I Targaryen. Viserys I Targaryen’s first wife, Queen Aemma Arryn, had died, so the council pushed him to find a new wife.
Alicent caught his attention at that time, and Viserys chose her to be his wife. She got along well with Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who was her step-daughter. But she had Aemond, Daeron, Helaena, and Aegon II very quickly after that.
So, Alicent’s family tree has information about her father, her brother, her husband, her children, and her grandchildren.
Otto is her father, but no one knows anything about her mother. She had many brothers, and one of them was Gwayne Hightower. She got married to King Viserys I Targaryen and had four kids by him.
Her son Aegon married his sister Halaaena, who had three children. So, Alicent’s grandchildren were named Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor.
Details about how the Hightowers and the Targaryens are related
Targaryen had a lot of help from Hightower. But disagreements within the family tree led to Targaryen being split into Green and Black.
One of the most important things in the House of the Dragon was the Dance of the Dragons, which will happen after the king dies. After the king dies, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Aegon II Targaryen fight for the Iron throne.
Rhaenyra’s uncle Daemon thought he should be the heir, but since she was King Viserys I’s oldest child, she was always thought to be the heir. But it became harder to take the throne after Viserys remarried and had a son by her new husband.
Within Targaryen, there were two groups: the Green and the Black. The Queen and the Princess got into a fight.
Even though Viserys said Rhaenyra would be his successor, Aegon II’s mother Alicent, his father’s father Otto Hightower, and a few other lords plotted to put him on the throne. This was the start of the historic Targaryen Civil War in the House of the Dragon.
Early years
Alicent was born in the year 88 AC to Otto Hightower, who was Lord Hightower’s younger brother. Alicent had many brothers, one of whom was Gwayne.
In 101 AC, when her father was named Hand of the King by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, Alicent, her brothers, and mother went with him to court. King Jaehaerys’s health was getting worse, so Alicent became his constant companion. She brought him food, helped him get clean and dressed, and read to him. In the end, King Jaehaerys sometimes confused her for Saera Targaryen, his daughter. In the end, Jaehaerys died while Alicent was reading to him in the year 103 AC.
Alicent stayed at court because her father kept his job as Hand for King Viserys I Targaryen, who was Jaehaerys’ grandson and took over from him. Ser Otto and Prince Daemon Targaryen were at odds with each other early in Viserys’s rule, and the court fool Mushroom said that the two men’s fight started when Daemon deflowered Alicent. No one has ever found out what these stories are really about.
Alicent Hightower
Marriage
In the years that followed, Alicent caught the eye of King Viserys I Targaryen, whose first wife, Queen Aemma Arryn, had died and whose small council was pushing him to get married again. Viserys chose Alicent as his wife even though his council told him not to. Even though some people said that the Hand had become better than himself, they got married in the year 106 AC. Some people started to doubt Alicent’s goodness when they heard that she had given her virginity to Prince Daemon and later slept with King Viserys while Queen Aemma was still alive. The infamous Mushroom said that Alicent was more than just a helper to Jaehaerys, who had died. Alicent was still married to Viserys. Viserys’s small council would have liked to see other marriages happen, but the Hightowers were still one of the most powerful families in Westeros and had close ties to the Faith of the Seven, so it wasn’t a completely bad choice (whose leadership were still based in Oldtown at the time).
Queen Alicent used to get along well with Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who was her step-daughter. But when Alicent quickly had a son, Prince Aegon, a daughter, Princess Helaena, and another son, Prince Aemond, and Rhaenyra stayed Viserys’s heir, those feelings started to change. Both women wanted to be the first lady of the realm, but only one could be.
Ser Otto Hightower, Alicent’s father, was the person who helped her the most. He finally went too far and lost his position as Hand because of it. Otto went back to Oldtown because he was no longer welcome at court. A group of powerful lords who were friends with Queen Alicent and fought for the rights of Queen Alicent’s sons. This group was called the “queen’s party.”
On the fifth anniversary of the king’s marriage to Queen Alicent, which was in 111 AC, a big tournament was held at King’s Landing. Alicent wore a green dress to the opening feast, while Princess Rhaenyra wore the red and black colors of the Targaryen family. People took note, and from then on, it was common to call the queen’s party “greens” and the princess’s party “blacks.” Ser Criston Cole, wearing Rhaenyra’s favor, knocked off all of the queen’s champions, including two of her cousins and her youngest brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower. This meant that the blacks won the tournament and the greens lost.
Prince Daemon Targaryen didn’t like Alicent and her sons, so when he got back to King’s Landing, he made fun of Alicent, Aegon and Aemond, and the other greens to amuse Princess Rhaenyra. People say he was rude to Princes Aegon and Aemond because they had moved him even further down the line of succession.
When Rhaenyra turned 16, a small council began looking for a good husband for her. Alicent could have chosen her oldest son, Prince Aegon, who was only six years old when the princess was sixteen. Viserys said that the siblings had never gotten along, but Alicent told him that was even more reason to marry them. Viserys said no because he thought Alicent had only suggested it to get her own blood on the throne.
By the time Princess Rhaenyra got married in 114 AC, Queen Alicent had added Ser Criston Cole, who used to be Princess Rhaenyra’s friend, to her greens. Criston won Alicent’s favor by fighting in the tournament for Rhaenyra’s wedding, and he was soon named Alicent’s personal sworn shield.
By the year 115, the hatred between the greens and the blacks was very strong. Alicent had given birth to Prince Daeron, who looked just like his brothers and sister. On the other hand, Princess Rhaenyra had given birth to Princes Jacaerys and Lucerys, who didn’t look anything like Rhaenyra or her husband, Ser Laenor Velaryon. Alicent was sure that Ser Harwin Strong was the father of the children, but King Viserys did not feel the same way.
In the year 120 AC, Alicent’s second son was involved in an incident where Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys took out Aemond’s right eye. Alicent was angry and told them to do the same thing to Lucerys. After this happened, King Viserys said that Alicent and her children would stay at court in King’s Landing, while Rhaenyra and her family would stay at Dragonstone. Later that year, Rhaenyra gave birth to her first son with Prince Daemon. When Alicent found out the baby’s name was Aegon, she got angry because she thought it was a slight against her own son, who was also named Aegon.
The Dragons’ Dance
In his book Fire & Blood, Douglas Wheatley shows the Green Council making plans right after King Viserys’s death.
When King Viserys I Targaryen died in his sleep at King’s Landing on the third day of the third moon in the year 129 AC, a servant was told to tell Queen Alicent, but no one else was told. Mushroom, who was on Dragonstone with Rhaenyra Targaryen, heard that Alicent poisoned Viserys’ hippocras while she was there. Even so, Alicent told Ser Criston Cole, who was now the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Together, they called a small council and made plans to crown Alicent’s son Prince Aegon instead of Viserys’s heir, Princess Rhaenyra. Alicent put her own crown on Helaena’s head and called her “my queen” at the coronation ceremony for Aegon II and his sister-wife Helaena in the Dragonpit. After hearing about Rhaenyra’s rival coronation, Alicent, Helaena, and Grand Maester Orwyle urged Aegon to offer generous terms to Rhaenyra. They wanted her to remain the lady of Dragonstone and for the lands to go to Jaecerys after her death, for Driftmark to go to Lucerys, and for her sons Aegon the Younger and Viserys to serve as the king’s But Rhaenyra didn’t agree to these terms, so war had to happen.
Alicent moved her rooms to the Tower of the Hand, where her father lived, after she became queen. Queen Helaena took her children to see their grandmother every night before bed. Blood and Cheese were able to take advantage of this custom because the Tower of the Hand was not as safe as Maegor’s Holdfast. They broke into Alicent’s room at night, killed her bedmaid, and tied Alicent up and put a gag on her. As payback for the death of Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys, the children killed Prince Jaehaerys, Aegon’s oldest son and heir, when Helaena and the children arrived. Helaena then went crazy from grief. Aegon gave his last son, Prince Maelor, to be raised by his mother, Alicent.
Alicent tried to stand up for her father, Ser Otto Hightower, when Aegon II replaced him as Hand of the King with Ser Criston Cole, but she was not successful.
After the battle at Rook’s Rest, when a lot of small people tried to leave King’s Landing, Alicent locked the city’s gates
During the fall of King’s Landing, when her brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower, was killed by Ser Luthor Largent, Alicent gave the Red Keep to Rhaenyra.
Alicent was tied with golden chains, but Rhaenyra saved her life “for the sake of our father, who once loved you,” because her father, Ser Otto Hightower, and other conspirators on the small council were executed for treason.
Alicent asked for peace when she heard about Rhaenyra’s plans to fight Prince Aemond and Prince Daeron. She asked that the Seven Kingdoms be split between Rhaenyra and Aegon II, with her son taking the stormlands, westerlands, and the Reach and ruling it from Oldtown. Rhaenyra would take the crownlands, riverlands, the Vale of Arryn, the Iron Islands, and the North. Her stepdaughter turned down this offer of peace, saying that her brothers had lost their honor by taking her birthright and killing her own sons. Alicent said that only the blood of bastards had been shed. This made Rhaenyra very angry, and she threatened to cut Alicent’s tongue out if she said anything else about bastards. Mushroom says that Mysaria told Rhaenyra that Alicent and Helaena should be forced to work as prostitutes in one of King’s Landing’s brothels as a punishment that was even worse than having their tongues cut out. The story isn’t true, says Gyldayn. Alicent cursed her rival when Helaena’s madness made her jump out of her window to kill herself. [9] Prince Aemond died in the Battle Above the Gods Eye while fighting Prince Daemon Targaryen, and Prince Daeron died in the Second Battle of Tumbleton. Maelor, who was Alicent’s grandson, died at Bitterbridge.
After the Storming of the Dragonpit, Rhaenyra left the capital, and Alicent was there when Ser Perkin the Flea put Trystane Truefyre, his squire, on the Iron Throne. After Dragonstone fell, Aegon II fed Rhaenyra to Sunfyre.
When Lord Borros Baratheon ended the Moon of the Three Kings, Alicent worked out a marriage between her only surviving son, King Aegon the Elder, and Cassandra Baratheon. Alicent was filled with happiness when she heard that her granddaughter, Princess Jaehaera Targaryen, had made it safely to Storm’s End. Alicent didn’t trust Lord Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, so she only reluctantly agreed to marry Jaehaera off to Prince Aegon the Younger, who was Rhaenyra’s son.
As the armies of the Lads and Lord Cregan Stark moved closer to the capital, there were plans to kill Aegon II. Velaryons found that the king had been poisoned, and they put Alicent in jail.