The AKOTSK Targaryen family tree of Dunk and Egg

The stories take place nearly a century before A Game of Thrones, while the Targaryens still hold the Iron Throne.¹ When Dunk rides to the tourney at Ashford Meadow, the king is Daeron II, a son of Aegon IV.⁴

Daeron II has four sons on the chart. Baelor, called Breakspear, is the eldest, the Hand of the King and the heir to the throne. Aerys and Rhaegel come next, and Maekar is the youngest.⁴ Baelor’s sons Valarr, known as the Young Prince, and Matarys stand in the generation below him.^4,5

The AKOTSK Targaryen family tree turns on these four brothers. In the space of two novellas the eldest dies at Ashford, a sickness takes the king and Baelor’s two sons, and the crown passes to Aerys, a prince the first novella hardly shows.^4,5

Dunk takes on a bald boy at an inn near Ashford as his squire and calls him Egg. At the tourney the boy is revealed as Aegon, the fourth son of Maekar.⁴ The squire of the HBO series is that same boy, and the collection keeps his true name hidden from almost everyone the two meet on the road.^1,3

Maekar has four sons on the AKOTSK Targaryen family tree. Daeron, the eldest, drinks and has dreams that come true. Aerion, called Brightflame, is the cruel second son. Aemon, the third, is away studying at the Citadel. Egg is the youngest of the four.⁴

At the end of The Hedge Knight Maekar sends Aerion to Lys and agrees that Egg may serve Dunk as a squire.⁴ The purple arrow from Egg to Dunk on the chart is that service, the bond that every later novella follows.

At Ashford Aerion attacks a puppeteer for her show of a dragon slain, and Dunk strikes the prince to stop him. Aerion demands that Dunk lose a hand and a foot, and Dunk asks for trial by combat. Aerion makes it a trial of seven.⁴

Baelor Breakspear takes Dunk’s side and fights in his seven. Maekar fights for his son Aerion. Dunk wins the trial, but Baelor has taken a blow to the head from his brother’s mace, and he dies of it on the field.⁴ The red arrow from Maekar to Baelor on the AKOTSK Targaryen family tree is that blow, struck by a brother in a fight over a hedge knight.

The death changes the succession. Baelor was the heir of Daeron II, and his line ends within the next two years when his sons die of the Great Spring Sickness with the king.⁵

Aegon IV fathered sons outside his marriage, and three of them shape the AKOTSK Targaryen family tree. Daemon Blackfyre rose against Daeron II and was killed at the Redgrass Field. Aegor Rivers, called Bittersteel, fought on the Blackfyre side and went into exile. Brynden Rivers, called Bloodraven, fought for the king, and his archers brought down Daemon.⁵

In The Sworn Sword Bloodraven is the Hand of King Aerys I, a lord the smallfolk fear.⁵ In The Mystery Knight a hedge knight called John the Fiddler is revealed as Daemon II Blackfyre, a son of the first Daemon, at the heart of a plot at Whitewalls. Bloodraven arrives with his men, breaks the plot and takes him prisoner.⁶

The chart draws all three bastards as sons of Aegon IV, which is what makes Bloodraven and Bittersteel half-brothers of the king they served and fought.⁵

The three novellas end in the reign of Aerys I. A Game of Thrones gives the rest in a few lines, when Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch tells Jon Snow that his father was King Maekar and that his brother Aegon reigned after him in his place.⁷ Egg, the squire of the novellas, becomes King Aegon V, and the third son Aemon gives up any claim and serves at the Wall.⁷

That is why the chart ends with two positions of its own. At the first Aerys I has died and Maekar is king, and at the second Maekar has died and Egg reigns as Aegon V, with Aemon a maester at the Wall.⁷ Only one king is alive at either point. These are the only positions that do not follow a novella, and the HBO series has not reached them.

A square is a man and a cross marks a death. The novellas name few of the wives, so each line of descent runs from the father, and no wife is drawn. The red ring is the royal line, the black ring the Blackfyres and the purple ring the two Rivers brothers. Dunk stands outside every ring.

The lines between people are the story. The purple arrow is Egg’s service, the teal line is Baelor fighting for Dunk, the red zigzag is Aerion’s hatred and the red arrows are the killings at Ashford and the Redgrass Field. Each line carries a few words at both ends.

To build an AKOTSK Targaryen family tree of your own, or to add the wives and daughters of the later histories, open the chart in the editor from this page or start from the story charts. For the house in Game of Thrones, see the Game of Thrones genogram.