King Aegon VI Targaryen was the twenty-first member of the Targaryen dynasty to sit the Iron Throne. He was the son of Prince Rhaegar of Dragonstone and Princess Elia Martell of Dorne. Long believed to have been killed in the Sack of King's Landing during Robert's Rebellion, Aegon spent much of his life in exile in Essos. Due to various circumstances, once his aunt Daenerys retook the throne, Aegon remained in Essos and did not reveal his identity.
Years later, Daenerys' grandson Jaehaerys III ascended the Iron Throne and his aunt Rhaenys began a civil war to usurp it, known as the Second Dance of Dragons. Seeing his opportunity to present himself as a sort of 'compromise' between the alleged bastard Jaehaerys and the cruel and tyrannical Rhaenys, Aegon gathered an army of sellswords and mercenaries, including the Golden Company, and sailed for Westeros.
Once Aegon arrived in Westeros, the armies of both claimants were severely drained. Aegon quickly marched to meet the depleted forces of King Jaehaerys III near Harrenhal (Rhaenys and most of her troops at this time were doing battle in the Stormlands). The battle that took place at Harrenhal was a decisive victory for Aegon and his troops, despite Jaehaerys possessing a dragon, as it was not much more than a hatchling. During the battle, Jaehaerys was killed and Aegon usurped the throne, styling himself as Aegon of the House Targaryen, the Sixth of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.
Shortly after the battle, the vast majority of Jaehaerys' supporters pledged themself to Aegon and he and his army began a march to King's Landing, where his planned to secure the city and prepare for battle with Rhaenys. Suspiciously, they faced no surprise attacks from Rhaenys on dragonback or from her troops on the way to King's Landing.
Once arriving in King's Landing, Aegon and his host moved to secure the city and make plans for his coronation. However, his reign would be abruptly cut short. Aegon had not been in the Red Keep for even a week when his scouts began reporting sightings of Rhaenys and Viserion.
Soon after, Rhaenys descended upon King's Landing atop Viserion and began razing the city. She initially only targeted Aegon's men that she could see, as well as and military targets, such as guard towers and garrisons. At the same time, her smaller host of soldiers she brought to accompany her breached the city and began battle with Aegon's men. Once Aegon's army had been decimated and he would no doubt have to surrender, after briefly pausing, Rhaenys continued razing the city, now targeting innocent men, women and children. Aegon could only watch from the Red Keep as the city began to burn. Rhaenys turned to the Red Keep and began destroying its towers with dragonfire. Before long, the inferno left behind in the city struck one of the caches of wildfire buried beneath the city by the Mad King and, in seconds, King's Landing was engulfed in green flames and near totally destroyed and reduced to rubble. Aegon watched as the wildfire chain reaction destroyed the Great Sept of Baelor in an enormous explosion before continuing to the Red Keep, which was subsequently completely destroyed by wildfire, and King Aegon with it.
Aegon VI reigned for a few short weeks in 353 AC and was succeeded by Rhaenys I Targaryen.
Trivia[]
- Aegon VI was both the oldest ruler of Westeros in history at the time of his accession as well as its shortest-reigning monarch.