Aemma Arryn

Aemma was born at the Eyrie in the year 82 after the Conquest, the fifth daughter of Lord Rodrik Arryn and the only child of his second wife, Princess Daella Targaryen. Daella was a daughter of King Jaehaerys I and his sister-wife, Queen Alysanne, and she went into labor two weeks early.

The birth was long and difficult. Aemma came through it healthy, but her mother did not: by the next day Daella was burning with fever, and she died. Aemma grew up alongside her father's children from his first marriage, four older half-siblings as well as two unnamed half-brothers and her half-sisters Elys and Amanda.

At eleven years old, in 93 AC, Aemma married her cousin Prince Viserys Targaryen. The early years of the marriage brought more grief than joy: several pregnancies ended too soon, and one son who was born alive died in the cradle not long after.

Some maesters blamed these losses on Aemma having married and shared a bed so young. Her fortune turned in 97 AC, when she gave birth to a healthy girl. They named her Rhaenyra, and both her parents doted on her from the start.

When the Old King, Jaehaerys I, died, a Great Council was called in 101 AC to decide who would inherit the Iron Throne. The assembly chose Viserys, and with that choice Aemma went from princess to queen consort.

The succession was never fully settled: many lords eyed Viserys's younger brother, Prince Daemon Targaryen, as a possible heir for as long as the royal couple had no son. Asked about it, Viserys would simply say he trusted Aemma would soon give him that son.

In early 105 AC Aemma fell pregnant once more. The birth came late that year and gave Viserys the son the court had long waited for, Prince Baelon.

Aemma did not survive the birth. Baelon followed her a day later. Viserys was left desolate by the double loss: his wife, and the son meant to secure his succession.

With Aemma dead, Viserys named Rhaenyra, the daughter they had had together, as his heir. A few years later the king married again, this time to Lady Alicent Hightower, who bore him several sons; even so, Rhaenyra remained his named heir.

When the Dance of the Dragons broke out, Aemma's own house, the Arryns, fought for the Blacks. After the war, Aegon III, Rhaenyra's son and Aemma's grandson, took the Iron Throne; his male line died out early, but the crown passed to his younger brother, Viserys II. Through that branch, Targaryens, Martells, Baratheons, and other lesser houses alike trace their blood back to Aemma.