Rhaenys Targaryen

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, also known among the smallfolk as The Queen Who Never Was, was the daughter of Prince Aemon Targaryen and Lady Jocelyn Baratheon. She was married to Corlys Velaryon of Driftmark. She was a dragonrider who claimed Meleys, the Red Queen. Pseudonym(s) The Queen Who Never Was Title(s) Princess Loyalty to House Targaryen Velaryon House The Blacks Valyrian Race Valyrian Culture Born 74 AD Death 129 AD, in Gralhas' Landing Father Aemon Targaryen Spouse Corlys Velaryon Child(ren) Laena Velaryon Laenor Velaryon

Rhaenys had a thin face, violet eyes, and black hair. She had been fifty-five during the Dance of the Dragons and was still as fierce and fearless as she had been at twenty-one. She was an intelligent, capable, witty, proud, fierce and fearless woman. She had a fiery temper. Rhaenys wore armor of steel and copper that gleamed in the sun.

Rhaenys was born in 74 AC on the seventh day of the seventh moon of the year. As her father was the Prince of Dragonstone and she was his firstborn, many considered her to be next in line to the Iron Throne, after her father Aemon. Queen Alysanne Targaryen, upon being introduced to her granddaughter, called her "our future queen".

Rhaenys became a dragonrider in 87 AC when she claimed the dragon Meleys. In 89 AC, Rhaenys joined King Jaehaerys I Targaryen on his royal advancement. He flew Meleys to Highgarden to meet Jaehaerys, and together they traveled through the four Shield Islands. At Greenshield, she informed the king of her intentions to marry Lord Corlys Velaryon and received her grandfather's blessing. Rhaenys married Corlys in 90 AC at the age of 16. She insisted on arriving at her wedding riding Meleys.

In 92 AC, Rhaenys discovered that she was pregnant with her first child.

Rhaenys's father, Prince Aemon Targaryen, died in 92 AC. Aemon was the Prince of Dragonstone, and thus the heir presumptive to King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. His death raised the question of who would be the new successor. The choice was between Rhaenys, the only daughter of Aemon (the king's eldest son), and Aemon's brother, Prince Baelon. Jaehaerys elected to name Baelon as the new Prince of Dragonstone, overriding Rhaenys, who was pregnant. Rhaenys herself was the first to oppose the king's decision, and her husband, Lord Corlys Velaryon, resigned his position as Lord Admiral and his seat on the small council. Shortly thereafter, Rhaenys and her husband set out for Driftmark. Others in King's Landing who were unhappy with the king's decision included Rhaenys's mother, Lady Jocelyn Baratheon, her uncle, Lord Boremund Baratheon, and her grandmother, King Jaehaerys's wife Queen Alysanne Targaryen. Rhaenys gave birth to her first child, a daughter she named Laena Velaryon, in late 92 AC.[2] The following year, she gave birth to a son, Laenor Velaryon. Although both Houses Velaryon and Baratheon insisted that Laenor had the better claim to the throne, Prince Baelon remained Jaehaerys's official heir.

When Baelon died in 101 AC, King Jaehaerys called a Great Council at Harrenhal to decide the question of succession. At the Great Council of 101, some fourteen people were considered, including Rhaenys and her children. Rhaenys's uncle, Lord Boremund Baratheon, remained a staunch supporter of Rhaenys's claim to the Crown and that of her son Laenor,[7] with Lord Ellard Stark also supporting Rhaenys.[8] Other supporters of hers included House Dustin of Barrowton and House Manderly of White Harbor.[1] However, Rhaenys's claims were ignored, especially due to her gender. Rhaenys and Corlys used their wealth and influence to try to persuade the lords to vote for her son Laenor, who was considered a favorite. They received the support of Lords Boremund, Ellard, Manderly, Dustin, Blackwood, Bar Emmon, Celtigar, and others. However, Laenor was overlooked in favor of Baelon's son, Prince Viserys.[5] Although the vote was secret, rumor has it that the lords favored Viserys by a margin of 20 to 1.

Having been passed over twice for succession to the throne, the court jester Mushroom gave Rhaenys the nickname "The Queen Who Never Was". After the death of Queen Aemma Arryn, the wife of King Viserys I (who was Rhaenys's cousin), in 105 AC, Grand Maester Runciter suggested to the king that he take Rhaenys's daughter, the 12-year-old Laena, as his wife. Viserys, however, disagreed and married Alicent Hightower instead. Angered that she and her family had been passed over a fourth time by House Targaryen, Rhaenys decided not to attend the wedding, which took place in 106 AC.[10] In 113 AC, King Viserys I and his small council began discussing who would be the best candidate to marry Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys's heir apparent. They eventually agreed that Rhaenys's son Laenor would be a good choice. Rhaenyra and Laenor then married and had three children (although it is rumored that the children were actually the children of Rhaenyra's beloved Harwin Strong). Both of Rhaenys's children died in 120 AC; Laena and her son died in childbirth earlier that year, while Laenor was killed by Ser Qarl Correy while attending a fair in Spicetown.

When the great Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons, began in 129 AC, Princess Rhaenys sat on the Black Council of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, the eldest daughter of the late King Viserys I Targaryen. After the Velaryon Fleet arrived in the Gullet, sailing from Dragonstone and Driftmark to block the entrance to Blackwater Bay, the blacks planned to keep Rhaenys, riding Meleys, near the fleet to protect the ships from any attack by the greens and their dragons. When news reached Dragonstone of the death of Lucerys Velaryon (Rhaenyra's son) at the hands of Prince Aemond Targaryen, Rhaenys and her husband managed to prevent his brother Joffrey from setting out on his dragon to avenge his brother. Grief-stricken over her son's death, Queen Rhaenyra gave Rhaenys and Corlys command of her war council. Nine days later, Lord Staunton called for aid from the blacks as his castle of Rook's Rest was under attack. Rhaenys flew there on Meleys. They fought Ser Criston Cole's forces, but the battle was an ambush. Surprising Rhaenys, King Aegon II Targaryen and Prince Aemond Targaryen appeared from the sky on Sunfyre and Vhagar. Rhaenys was unafraid and faced the two with Meleys, even though she knew she would have no chance against two dragons. The three clashed and fell to the ground. Meleys was killed by the dragon, and along with her carcass was the body of a burned and blackened woman, believed to be Rhaenys. Her husband, Corlys Velaryon, was enraged that Queen Rhaenyra had sent Rhaenys alone instead of her sons Jacaerys and Joffrey. In fact, Rhaenyra had forbidden her two sons from joining her, for safety reasons.

"We can go back to the ends of the world together. But I'll get there first, since I'm flying." —Rhaenys to her future husband, Corlys Velaryon “What did Viserys have that she didn’t? A little sausage? Is that what it takes to be king?” — Mushroom, on the choice of succession “Beloved daughter of Lady Jocelyn Baratheon and Prince Aemon Targaryen, faithful wife of Lord Corlys Velaryon, mother and grandmother, the queen who never was lived without fear, and died in blood and fire. She was fifty-five years of age.” — Archmaester Gyldayn