2.2.4. The Blackfyre Pretenders
- Daemon Blackfyre died for his treason, as did Grand Maester Hareth and Rhaenyra Targaryen (III: 407)
- Aerys originally acted as if Robert was nothing but a mere outlaw lord, but Robert Baratheon and his allies were the greatest threat to House Targaryen since Daemon Blackfyre (III: 418)
- Aegon IV legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed, and the pain, grief, war, and murder that wrought lasted five generations because of the Blackfyre pretenders. It only ended when Ser Barristan the Bold slew the last of them, Maelys the Monstrous, in single combat on the Stepstones during the War of the Ninepenny Kings (III: 521, 752)
- Lord Bloodraven lost an eye to Bittersteel on the Redgrass Field (TSS: 81, 112)
- The Blackfyre Rebellion ended in the battle of the Redgrass Field in 196 (TSS: 90)
- All three of Ser Eustace Osgrey's sons died at the end of the Blackfyre Rebellion in 196, on the Redgrass Field. Edwyn and Harrold were knights, while Addam was a squire (TSS: 90)
- Roger of Pennytree, squire and nephew to Ser Arlan of Pennytree, was young when he died on the Redgrass Field. He was killed by Lord Gormon Peake, whose arms were three black castles on an orange field (TSS: 98, 111. TMK: 653, 657-658)
- Addam Osgrey was killed by a knight wearing the arms of House Smallwood, who took off the boy's arm with an axe (TSS: 110)
- Daemon Blackfyre reversed the colors of the Targaryen arms for his own banner, as many bastards did. In the years following his rebellion, asking if someone had followed the red dragon or the black was considered a dangerous question (TSS: 110)
- Daemon Blackfyre was also known as Daemon the Pretender (TSS: 110)
- Ser Arlan of Pennytree fought in Lord Hayford's host at the Redgrass Field (TSS: 110)
- Lord Hayford was a noted loyalist who was appointed Hand by King Daeron II just before the Redgrass Field, as Lord Butterwell had done such a terrible job in that office that some questioned his loyalty. Lord Hayford was killed during the battle (TSS: 110)
- The Redgrass Field was named for all the blood that shed on it during the great battle (TSS: 110)
- Aegon IV the Unworthy gave his Valyrian steel sword, Blackfyre, which had been carried by Aegon the Conqueror and all the Targaryen kings after him, to his bastard Daemon when he knighted him at the age of 12, instead of to his his heir, Daeron; talk of Daemon becoming Aegon's heir began after this point.. Daemon was his son by one of his cousin's, one of the princesses in the Maindenvault who were sisters to King Baelor the Blessed.(TSS: 111, 137. SSM: 1, 2)
- It is said that ten thousand men died on the Redgrass Field (TSS: 111)
- No one could stand against Daemon Blackfyre during the batte. He broke Lord Arryn's van, slaying the Knight of Ninestars and Wild Wyl Waynwood, then fought Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard. The two fought for nearly an hour, their Valyrian steel swords Blackfyre and Lady Forlorn shrieking as they clashed, until Daemon clove through Corbray's helm and blinded him with his own blood. As he dismounted to see to his fallen foe and sending Redtusk to conduct him safely to the rear, Bloodraven and his Raven's Teeth gained the the Weeping Ridge. From three hundred yards away, Bloodraven and his company used longbows to slay the eldest of Daemon's twin sons, Aegon, and then Daemon himself after piercing him with seven arrows. The younger twin, Aemon, took up Blackfyre, only to die in the same fashion (TSS: 111-112)
- The rebels routed following the death of Daemon and his sons, but the rout was turned by Bittersteel, who led a mad charge. Bittersteel and Bloodraven fought a battle second only to that of Blackfyre and Corbray. Finally, the battle was ended when Baelor Breakspear charged the rebel rear, his Dornishmen and stormlords striking a hammerblow that shattered the enemy (TSS: 112)
- Had Daemon Blackfyre won on the Redgrass Field, the road to King's Landing would have been open and undefended (TSS: 112)
- Bittersteel and Daemon Blackfyre's five surviving sons fled to Tyrosh, where they plotted their return (TSS: 121. TMK: 650)
- In the aftermath of the Blackfyre Rebellion, wherein House Osgrey of Standfast supported Daemon Blackfyre while House Webber supported King Daeron, the Osgreys were stripped of control over the Chequy Water, which was granted to House Webber, who also gained other rights associated with Wat's Wood. Furthermore, Ser Eustace Osgrey's wife killed herself when she learned that her daughter and only surviving child, Allysane, was to be made a hostage in King's Landing (TSS: 128-131)
- Daemon Blackfyre promised Coldmoat to Ser Eustace Osgrey (TSS: 129, 136)
- Those who followed King Daeron called themselves loyalists (TSS: 135)
- Daemon Blackfyre was known as the King Who Bore the Sword by his followers, who also claimed that he was the rightful king (TSS: 135)
- Following Blackfyre's Rebellion, many of those who followed him drew away from the public eye, in part because Lord Bloodraven and his Raven's Teeth put the fear in them (TSS: 135)
- Half the realm rose for the black dragon, and the other half for the red (TSS: 135)
- Fireball was one of the champions who followed Daemon Blackfyre, but he was slain on the eve of battle. A famous knight of the Reach, Ser Quentyn Ball had been master-at-arms in the Red Keep and had been all but promised a place in the Kingsguard by Aegon IV, a promise Daeron the Good chose not to honor. This led Fireball to becoming one of the men who urged Blackfyre to his rebellion (TSS: 135. TMK: 666, 668. SSM: 1)
- Hightower, Oakheart, Tarbeck, and Butterwell had a foot in both camps, so did not lend either side their full strength (TSS: 135)
- Manfred Lothston betrayed Daemon Blackfyre, which may have been a pivotal factor in his defeat and death (TSS: 135)
- Lord Bracken was delayed by storms on the narrow sea, which kept him from arriving with Myrish crossbowmen to support Daemon Blackfyre (TSS: 135-136)
- Quickfinger, a Blackfyre loyalist, was caught with stolen dragon's eggs during Blackfyre's Rebellion (TSS: 136)
- Daeron II was known as Daeron the Falseborn to those who followed the Blackfyres, no doubt alluding to the rumors that Daeron was the son of Aegon IV's brother, Aemon the Dragonknight (TSS: 136)
- King Daeron pardoned those who rebelled against him, so long as they bent the knee and gave over a hostage (TSS: 136. TMK: 657)
- Daemon Blackfyre was a great warrior, and some claimed that with Blackfyre in his hand no knight who ever lived could have matched him, even Ulrik Dayne with Dawn or Aemon the Dragonknight with Dark Sister. He was tall and powerful, and no more pious than he had to be (TSS: 137)
- King Daeron marrying his sister Daenerys to the Prince of Dorne when she is said to have loved Daemon Blackfyre was one of several causes of Blackfyre's rebellion (TSS: 137. SSM: 1, 2)
- Great knights flocked to Daemon Blackfyre's banner: Robb Reyne, Gareth the Grey, Ser Aubrey Ambrose, Lord Gormon Peake, Black Byren Flowers, Redtusk, Fireball, and Bittersteel (who seems to have been considered the greatest of all) (TSS: 137)
- The Golden Company has never broken its contract, boasting that its word is as good as gold since the days of their founder Bittersteel. They were founded approximately 200 AC, and were made up of the hundreds landless knights and lords who followed Bittersteel and the surviving sons of Daemon Blackfyre into exile. Some of these men joined existing sellsword companies, such a the Ragged Standard, the Second sons, or the Maiden's Men, but seeing this Bittersteel formed the Golden Company to bind the majority together. Since then, the Golden Company has spent its career in the Disputed Lands, fighting the wars between the Free Cities and hoping to return to the Seven Kingdoms (IV: 197. V: 78)
- The Golden Company is a brotherhood of exiles, united by the dream of Bittersteel to return to Westeros (IV: 198. V: 78)
- Ser Brynden Tully won renown fighting the Ninepenny Kings (IV: 495)
- The Ebon Prince was involved in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, probably as one of the aggressors claiming a crown (IV: 495)
- Tensions were high in 211-212, as there were those who openly incited the king's subjects to rise against him in support of the Blackfyres and against his Hand, Brynden Rivers. Some who spoke treason were executed by loyal lords (TMK: 650)
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- Daemon II Blackfyre, the second Blackfyre Pretender, disguised himself as a hedge knight called John the Fiddler. His arms were a golden engrailed cross, with a golden fiddle in the first and third quarter, and a golden sword in the other quarters. He travelled in company with Lord Alyn Cockshaw and Lord Gormon Peake to a wedding tourney at Lord Butterwell's seat of Whitewalls, which was to serve as a gathering place for his supporters (TMK: 654-655)
- Lord Gormon Peake lost two of the three castles he ruled, due to having supported Daemon Blackfyre. He retained only Starpike. Because of this, he led the conspiracy that brought Daemon Blackfyre from across the narrow sea (TMK: 657, 721)
- Lord Butterwell was Master of Coin when Aegon IV sat the throne, and then was made Hand for a time by Daeron II, but not for long. During the first Blackfyre Rebellion, his second son fought with the rebels, his eldest with the king, while he kept out of the fighting (TMK: 658, 673)
- Lord Ambrose Butterwell's -tourney in the reign of Aerys I featured the dragon's egg his grandfather received from Aegon IV as the champion's prize (TMK: 663, 721)
- The Seven Kingdoms were seemingly left to fend for themselves against Lord Dagon Greyjoy and his ironborn reavers troubling all the lands on the western coast, as King Aerys I ignored the trouble so he could be closeted with his books, while Prince Rhaegal was said to be so mad as to dance naked in the halls of the Red Keep and Prince Maekar so angry at his brother and his advisors that he sat and brooded at Summerhall. Some blamed Lord Bloodraven, the Hand of the King, for this state of affairs, while others claimed his attention was focused on Tyrosh where the sons of Daemon Blackfyre and Bittersteel plotted another attempt to seize the Iron Throne (TMK: 664)
- Armond Caswell, Lord of Bitterbridge, was among those who fought for King Daeron II against Daemon Blackfyre. In one battle, his banner-bearer was killed and he was allegedly saved by Ser Kyle, the Cat of Misty Moor (TMK: 665)
- Lord Costayne fought in the left battle of Daemon's host at the Redgrass Field (TMK: 667)
- Lord Shawney fought on the right with Bittersteel at the Battle of the Redgrass Field, and was nearly killed there (TMK: 667)
- Ser Quentyn Ball was called Fireball for his hot temper and red hair. He had been promised a place in the Kingsguard by Aegon the Unworthy, and forced his wife to become a silent sister so he could take up the honor. By the time a place was open, however, it was Aegon's son Daeron who ruled and he preferred to give the cloak to another man, Ser Willem Wylde. This was the reason why he supported Daemon Blackfyre (TMK: 668-669)
- Fireball would go on to help convince Daemon Blackfyre to claim the crown, and rescued him when King Daeron sent the Kingsguard to arrest him. He slew Lord Lefford at the gates of Lannisport and sent Lord Lannister, the Grey Lion, fleeing. At the crossing of the Mander, he slew Lady Penrose's son one by one, but let the youngest live as a kindness (TMK: 669)
- Fireball was struck down by a nameless archer's arrow as he dismounted at a stream for a drink of water (TMK: 669)
- The Old Ox, Ser Buford Bulwer, is claimed to have killed forty men at the Redgrass Field. This number is dubious, however (TMK: 671, 675)
- Daemon II's attempt to win the Iron Throne lacked the support of Bittersteel, despite his dream that he would hatch a dragon from an egg, much as he had dreamed of his elder brothers dead (TMK: 677-678)
- Daemon II dreamed that Ser Duncan the Tall would be a knight in his Kingsguard (TMK: 682-683)
- Daemon II was seven when his elder brothers, Aemon and Aegon, died at the age of twelve at the Redgrass Field (TMK: 683)
- Lord Sunderland attended Lord Butterwell's wedding in the reign of Aerys I. He had fought for the Black Dragon during Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion (TMK: 685-686)
- Lord Butterwell's sons fought on both sides during the first Blackfyre Rebellion (TMK: 687)
- Ser Glendon Ball (also called Flowers), Ser Argrave the Defiant of Nunny, Ser Duncan the Tall (as the Gallows Knight), Lord Joffrey Caswell, Ser Kyle, the Cat of Misty Moor, Ser Uthor Underleaf, Ser Eden Risley, Lord Smallwood's nephew, Ser Addam Frey, Lord Cockshaw, Ser John the Fiddler, Ser Tommard Heddle, ,Ser Clarence Charlton, and Ser Galtry the Green were among the knights who rode at Butterwell's tourney (TMK: 689, 691, 694-695, 697, 709, 713)
- Daemon Blackfyre struck his own coinage during his rebellion. Possession of the coins was considered treasonous (TMK: 700-701)
- It's said that Glendon Ball, the Knight of Pussywillows, was the son of a camp follower named Jenny. She was called Penny Jenny, and then Redgrass Jenny for all the men it's claimed she bedded before the battle. There's little doubt Fireball did sleep with her at some point, but the question of Glendon's paternity is open. Glendon was raised with his sister at a brothel called the Pussywillows (TMK: 703-704)
- Ser Uthor Underleaf was paid to try and kill Ser Duncan the Tall in the lists by Lord Alyn Cockshaw. The price was six gold dragons, and four more when Ser Duncan was declared dead (TMK: 705, 716)
- Ser Glendon Ball was offered a place at Starpike by Lord Peake if he deliberately lost to "John the Fiddler", Daemon Blackfyre, as part of Peake's plan to convince the realm of Daemon's worthiness as a successor to his father. When he refused, and the dragon's egg was stolen, Peake deliberately accused him of the theft so as to get him out of the way (TMK: 707, 726-727)
- The occasion of Lord Butterwell's wedding was used by supporters of the black dragon to meet together and secretly plot rebellion against the Iron Throne. Among those who appeared was one of Daemon Blackfyre's sons, in the guise of Ser John the Fiddler (TMK: 712)
- Many of the hostages that King Daeron took from the supporters of the black dragon died in King's Landing when the Great Spring Sickness ran rampant (TMK: 713)
- Lord Butterwell's dragon egg was stolen during the wedding tourney, allegedly by a spy of Lord Bloodraven who supposedly murdered the guards who watched over it. Tommard Heddle claimed that a dying guard blamed Glendon Ball (TMK: 714)
- Alyn Cockshaw was obsessed and in love with Daemon II, and dreamed of commanding his Kingsguard, but became jealous when Daemon's eyes turned to Duncan the Tall (TMK: 716)
- Daemon Blackfyre fathered seven sons. His third son was named Daemon as well. He and Alyn Cockshaw spent their childhoods together, suggesting Cockshaw was fostered with Daemon (TMK: 716-717)
- Bittersteel carried off Daemon's surviving sons into exile (TMK: 717)
- Alyn Cockshaw drowned in a well after being thrown into it by Ser Duncan the Tall, following his attempt to do the same to Ser Duncan (TMK: 717)
- Ser Maynard Plumm, who attended Lord Butterwell's wedding, was obviously a spy for the one-eyed Lord Bloodraven. At one point, Dunk sees him hooded and believes he can only see one eye, until he realizes that was just a brooch. Plumm reveals Bloodraven knew a good deal about the plots of Daemon Blackfyre and Lord Peake (TMK: 718)
- Ambrose Butterwell was never a firm supporter of the conspiracy to crown Daemon II, especially when he learned that he had neither the support of Bittersteel nor the sword Blackfyre. The theft of the dragon's egg made him even less inclined to be part of the conspiracy (TMK: 719)
- Black Tom Heddle, who was deeply involved in the conspiracy and had suborned Lord Butterwell's own men against him, was killed by Ser Duncan the Tall in single combat (TMK: 721, 724)
- Lord Frey abandoned the conspiracy immediately when Prince Aegon, son of Prince Maekar, revealed himself to him and Lord Butterwell and claimed he and Ser Duncan were spies for his father (TMK: 722)
- The dragon's egg allegedly taken from Ball's saddle was nothing but a painted stone, as the real dragon's egg had been stolen by persons unknown (TMK: 727)
- Daemon Blackfyre decided to allow Ser Glendon to defend himself in a trial by combat, and jousted against him. Despite Ball having been beaten and tortured, he defeated Daemon who was dubbed the Brown Dragon for the mud that covered him after he fell to the ground in the lists (TMK: 728, 730)
- As the conspiracy unravelled, many of the wedding guests who had entertained being a part of it fled Whitewalls in the night (TMK: 729)
- An army appeared outside Whitewalls, a host raised at Lord Bloodraven's command. Lord Mooton, Lord Blackwood, Lord Darklyn, and Lady Lothston were among its leaders, and there were Hayfords, Rosbys, Stokeworths, Masseys, the king's sworn swords, three of the Kingsguard, and three hundred of Bloodraven's Raven's Teeth involved. Bloodraven himself was present (TMK: 731)
- Daemon II's attempt to be crowned ended ignominiously when no one was willing to ride against Lord Bloodraven's army. He rode out alone and challenged Bloodraven to single combat, but was simply dragged down from his horse and arrested (TMK: 731-732)
- One of Lord Vyrwel's men-at-arms boasted he had been among Bloodraven's spies, but had his throat cut by one of Lord Costayne's knights (TMK: 732)
- Ser Maynard Plumm vanished from Whitewalls some time during the night (TMK: 732)
- Ser Roland Crakehall was one of the Kingsguard knights at Whitewalls (TMK: 732)
- Lord Peake was executed by beheading for his treason. His head was displayed with Tom Heddle's (TMK: 733)
- Lord Butterwell submitted to Lord Bloodraven's judgment, and lost nine-tenths of his wealth and his pride, Whitewalls. Lord Bloodraven intended to pull the castle down and sow the ground in salt so that it would soon be forgotten (TMK: 733)
- Erstwhile supporters of the Blackfyres would make pilgrimages to the Redgrass Field to plant flowers where Daemon Blackfyre fell (TMK: 733)
- Lord Frey was permitted to depart Whitewalls by Lord Bloodraven, without any apparent loss to himself (TMK: 734)
- There have always been Targaryens who dreamed of things to come, since long before the Conquest, and it was no surprise that the same gift appeared among their descendants such as the Blackfyres (TMK: 735)
- Bloodraven believed that Daemon Blackfyre's dream that a dragon would hatch at Whitewalls came true, but that it was Prince Aegon whom he dreamed of (TMK: 735)
- Bloodraven intended to suggest that King Aerys keep Daemon Blackfyre as a hostage at the Red Keep as a means of preventing Bittersteel from crowning his brother Haegon (TMK: 735-736)
- Bloodraven appears to have arranged the theft of the dragon's egg with the help of a troupe of dwarf mummers who crept up a privy shaft (TMK: 736)
- It's said Ser Barristan Selmy cut a bloody path through the Golden Company before slaying Maelys the Monstrous (V: 79)
- The most notable rebellions against the Targaryens came from the Blackfyre pretenders (SSM: 1)
- Bittersteel was Ser Aegor Rivers, the bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy by a a woman of House Bracken. Angry at his lot as a bastard, he was dark-haired, lithe, and hard. He wore a horsehead crest upon his helm and his arms featured a red stallion with black dragon wings, snorting flame against a golden field (SSM: 1)
- Daemon Blackfyre was about 26 at the time of his rebellion, Bittersteel 24, and Bloodraven 21. Daemon's eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon, were 12 (SSM: 1)
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- Daemon Blackfyre rebelled when he did for several reasons. Among them were that he was increasingly resentful of his status as a bastard, councilors urged him to it such as Fireball, (SSM: 1)
Last revised February 21, 2016
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