Daemon Blackfyre

• General Notes
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    Daemon Blackfyre was the bastard son of Daena Targaryen and Aegon IV.  Aegon “The Unworthy” knighted Daemon at the age of 12, after he distinguished himself during a tournament melee by besting a score of other squires.  Afterwards, King Aegon IV acknowledged Daemon as his bastard son and presented him with “Blackfyre”, the Valyrian steel sword of Aegon “The Conqueror” and all the Targaryen kings after him.  Talk of Daemon becoming Aegon's heir began after this point, because Aegon did not give “Blackfyre” to his heir-apparent, Daeron.
    
    Daemon matured into a man of considerable charm and strength; he won friends easily, and women were drawn to him.  He mastered all weapons of the battlefield, especially the sword.  Daemon was tall and powerful, with broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a flat stomach.  He had strong Targaryen features, with deep purple eyes and silver-gold hair worn long over his shoulders.  He always went clean-shaven.   Almost inhumanely beautiful, Daemon looked every inch the warrior, and many thought that he strongly resembled portraits of Aegon The Conqueror.
    
    Daemon attracted many followers with his martial skill and his possession of “Blackfyre”, and he was called the “King Who Bore the Sword”.   Many who disliked the Dornish influence and academic nature of Daeron's court preferred Daemon's rugged charisma and apathy toward learning and religion.  Daemon took the name of Blackfyre for his House and displayed the inverted Targaryen arms, a black dragon on red.
    
    On his deathbed, King Aegon IV legitimized all his bastards.   Daemon waited some time after his father’s death to make a claim to the Iron Throne because of his growing resentment at being a bastard son.  When his councilors urged him to make the claim as Aegon IV's true heir, he swayed half the kingdom to support his ascendancy to the Iron Throne, leading a rebellion against his half-brother, King Daeron II, in a war called the Blackfyre Rebellion.  The decisive battle in the war was fought on the Redgrass Field.
    
    According to Ser Eustace Osgrey, who fought on the rebel Blackfyre side, Daemon fought, "like the Warrior himself", and he defeated Ser Gwayne Corbray of King Daeron’s Kingsguard.  Then, instead of attacking Prince Maekar's forces, Daemon defended the wounded Corbray and had him carried off the field.  In the meantime, Brynden Rivers and his personal guard had found a spot from which they could rain their arrows down upon Daemon's position.  Daemon and his twin sons, Aemon and Aegon, were killed.  With this, the chance of victory for the rebels was gone.
    
    Daemon had seven sons, and the remaining sons went into exile with Bittersteel after the Rebellion.  Their descendants would attack the Targaryen’s at least four more times, until Maelys Blackfyre, the last of the line, was killed in 258 AL.