Fire and blood
The Targaryens are the blood of the dragon, descended from the high lords of the ancient Freehold of Valyria, their heritage proclaimed in a striking (some say inhuman) beauty, with lilac or indigo or violet eyes and hair of silver-gold or platinum white.
Aegon the Dragon’s ancestors escaped the Doom of Valyria and the chaos and slaughter that followed to settle on Dragonstone, a rocky island in the narrow sea. It was from there that Aegon and his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys sailed to conquer the Seven Kingdoms. To preserve the blood royal and keep it pure, House Targaryen has often followed the Valyrian custom of wedding brother to sister. Aegon himself took both his sisters to wife, and fathered sons on each.
The Targaryen banner is a three-headed dragon, red on black, the three heads representing Aegon and his sisters.
Viserys Targaryen
Second son of Aerys II, Viserys fled Westeros along with his sister Daenerys, and spent the next fifteen years wandering the Free Cities. He is a cruel, ambitious man, blunt of speech and given to violent mood swings. He hopes to return to Westeros and reclaim his father's throne. He is often mocked as the Beggar King since he must rely on the generosity of those sympathetic to his cause.
Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys Targaryen (Stormborn) or Dany is a POV character. She is a beautiful girl with silver hair and violet eyes, and one of the last members of the ancient Targaryen Dynasty, the former royal family of Westeros.
Daenerys' pregnant mother and her brother Viserys Targaryen fled to the island fortress of Dragonstone, where her mother died in labor during a monstrous storm. Shortly thereafter, Dragonstone fell to the rebel forces and Daenerys and Viserys were smuggled away to the Free City of Braavos.
In the years that followed, she and Viserys wandered among the nine Free Cities looking for aid to retake the Iron Throne. Daenarys at the beginning of the series was a very beautiful but shy and meek young woman who was terrified of her brother Viserys' temper. In the Free City of Pentos, the Targaryens were the guests of Illyrio Mopatis, a rich and powerful magister.
Maester Aemon
Third son of King Maekar I Targaryen, Aemon was sent to the Citadel according to the wishes of his grandfather, King Daeron II Targaryen. At this time, King Daeron II had four grown sons, three with sons of their own, and so felt that having too many potential Targaryen heirs was as dangerous as having too few. He earned the academic title of Maester. Aemon was summoned to court in the year of the Great Council. He was offered the crown, quietly, but refused, ceding rule to his younger brother, Aegon. He then decided to serve as a black brother of the Night's Watch for fear that he may be used in a plot to usurp his brother.
Aegon V Targaryen
The fourth son of a fourth son, Aegon, a strong and handsome man, was called "the Unlikely," and became king only after a Great Council had bypassed a number of candidates higher in the line of succession, including his elder brother Aemon, who had refused the throne. Friendly and approachable, Aegon ruled Westeros well as king for over a quarter of a century. Aegon perished in a fire at Summerhall, the Targaryen summer home.
A young Aegon is featured in Martin's Dunk and Egg short stories.
Aerys II Targaryen
Aerys Targaryen (also called "Aerys the Mad," "the Mad King," and "King Scab") ruled from 262 to 283 AL and was the last member of House Targaryen to sit on the Iron Throne before the "War of the Usurper" or "Robert's Rebellion."
He showed great promise at the start of his reign, which began in 262 AL, when he was 19. Following ancient Targaryen practice, Aerys had married his sister Rhaella. They had three children: sons Rhaegar and Viserys, and daughter Daenerys, who was born during the last stage of the War of the Usurper. Supported by his able councillors, foremost among them the King's Hand, Tywin Lannister, Aerys gave the realm many years of peace and prosperity, and "left the treasury flowing with gold.”
However, he grew increasingly erratic. Aerys was pleasant to his friends, but very harsh to those he thought his enemies. He was always a bit insane, but could be charming and generous, so his early lapses into madness were forgiven and overlooked. Over time though (especially after the Defiance of Duskendale) the lapses grew more and more frequent. He cut himself so often on the Iron Throne that men took to calling him King Scab.
Like many Targaryens, Aerys was obsessed with fire, notably the magical and highly flammable substance called wildfire. He took a great interest in the work of the Alchemists' Guild and had an inordinate amount of wildfire made during his reign. He had many enemies burned alive, including Lord Rickard Stark, father of Eddard Stark, and even his Hand, Lord Qarlton Chelsted.
His behavior led some of the noble houses to revolt against the Targaryen dynasty. This revolt led to the death of Aerys and most of House Targaryen. After the rebel victory at the Battle of the Bells, Aerys had his pyromancers create a huge reserve of wildfire and store it in secret around the city of King's Landing, planning to destroy the entire city to deny it to Robert Baratheon and take its half million inhabitants with him. However, before those orders could be carried out, he was assassinated by Jaime Lannister.
Rhaegar Targaryen
Eldest son of Aerys II, Rhaegar was the Prince of Dragonstone, the heir-apparent to the Iron Throne. As a character who has been deceased since before the beginning of the books, all information on Rhaegar comes second-hand, through the thoughts, recollections and tales of other characters.
He is described as an intelligent, handsome, brooding man, and a skilled fighter. He was popular with the people, but had few real friends. He was champion at the tourney at Harrenhal, where he shocked those present by selecting Lyanna Stark as Queen of Love and Beauty instead of his own wife, Elia. Rhaegar later disappeared with Lyanna, an act that many people, including Lyanna's family and her betrothed Robert Baratheon, viewed as a kidnapping. While the exact nature of their relationship is not currently known, outrage over the act triggered the War of the Usurper, in which Rhaegar was killed by Robert at the Battle of the Trident.
Rhaegar's wife, Elia Martell, bore him two children: a girl named Rhaenys and an infant son, Aegon. During the Sack of King's Landing, Princess Rhaenys was found hiding under her father's bed by Ser Amory Lorch; she fought back screaming, triggering a homicidal Lorch to stab her "half a hundred times". Elia was found in the nursery a floor below by Gregor Clegane who killed the baby present then proceeded to rape and kill Elia with the babe's blood and brain still on his hands. The children were murdered at the orders of Tywin Lannister, though it is later revealed Rhaegar's son, Aegon Targaryen VI, is still alive.
Though Robert vilifies Rhaegar throughout A Game of Thrones, most other characters express admiration for him. Barristan Selmy, a man known for his honour, stated that Rhaegar was still remembered in Westeros with great love.
Aegon VI Targaryen
The only son of Rhaegar and Elia, Aegon was believed to have been killed by Gregor Clegane along with his mother Elia.
