Baela Targaryen

Baela was born in Pentos in 116, the elder of the twin daughters Daemon Targaryen had with Laena Velaryon. She was named after her paternal grandfather. Both girls came into the world small and sickly, and only once they had grown stronger, at six months old, did Laena carry them by ship to Driftmark; soon after, Daemon presented them to King Viserys I for his blessing, over the Small Council's objections.

She grew up at Dragonstone, where her mother died when Baela was four. There, like her sister, she was given a dragon's egg: Rhaena's hatched into a sickly creature that barely lived a few hours, while Baela's hatched strong and healthy. She named it Moondancer.

In 118, with the king's blessing, Princess Rhaenyra announced Baela's betrothal to her own son, Jacaerys Velaryon.

She was thirteen when the war broke out. She stayed at Dragonstone while Rhaena left for the Vale, refusing to be parted from Jacaerys: she swore she would fly at his side on Moondancer, though the dragon was still too small to carry her into battle. She also spoke of marrying him without further delay, but the wedding never took place; the accounts disagree on why.

With Rhaenyra's court now settled in King's Landing, Baela split her time between Driftmark and Dragonstone. An incident with a kitchen boy nearly cost him his hand; only her pleading spared him, and the castellan of the island wrote to Daemon about his daughter's conduct.

When a charred dragon carcass turned up at Dragonstone — believed to be the work of the wild Cannibal — she was forbidden to fly Moondancer. She defied the order that same night and was caught, and was confined to her rooms.

When Dragonstone fell to Aegon II, Baela managed to escape and mount her dragon, only to run into Aegon II himself, riding Sunfyre, in the sky above. The two dragons fell fighting onto the stone of the courtyard; Aegon II broke free in time, she did not. Moondancer was devoured while Baela, burned and battered, dragged herself away from the body. One knight drew his sword to finish her off, and another stopped him just in time.

When Sunfyre died soon after, Aegon II ordered her execution; the axe was already resting on the block when a maester reminded him whose granddaughter she was, and the king relented. Baela went back to the dungeons in chains until, late in 130, her grandfather Corlys swore fealty to Queen Alicent, securing her release among other terms.

After her half-brother Aegon III's coronation, Cregan Stark took the regency in what became known as the Hour of the Wolf, and ordered the execution of the men who had served Aegon II, even those who had merely followed orders. When he came for the men who had saved her life, Baela drew a sword and swore she would cut off the hand of anyone who touched them; Stark, smiling, let her keep them.

Stark was equally unwilling to forgive Corlys Velaryon for swearing fealty to Aegon II at the war's end. Baela and Rhaena appealed directly to the king, reminding him that without that oath Corlys would have lost far more than an ear. Aegon III pardoned him and restored his honors and his seat on the council.

At court, Baela and Rhaena were the only living Targaryens besides the king and Queen Jaehaera, since Prince Viserys was believed dead. As the elder twin, many saw her as heir to the throne, a role she despised. She hunted, hawked, received visiting lords alongside the Hand, and dragged jugglers, beggars, a blacksmith's apprentice and a pair of twins from a brothel back to the Red Keep; neither her septa nor the court septon ever managed to tame her.

In 132, the Council of Regents decided to marry Baela off before her conduct dishonored House Targaryen further. Several suitors were considered, including a Dornish prince, but the Hand, Tyland Lannister, settled on Lord Thaddeus Rowan, twice widowed and forty years her senior. Baela made her opinion of the match plain and, placed under guard, fled the castle on a fisherman's boat bound for Driftmark.

There she sought out her cousin Alyn Velaryon and told him what the court had planned for her. Fifteen days later they married in the sept at Dragonstone, without the court's leave. Tyland Lannister, instead of seeking an annulment, let the marriage stand, feeding the rumor that the match had been his doing all along. In exchange, the regents ruled that Baela could no longer inherit the Iron Throne.

The marriage was famous, and not always calm: rumors circulated about Alyn and the Dornish princess Aliandra Martell. In 133, as her husband sailed for the Westerlands, Baela told him she was carrying his child. That same year she brought her young ward, Daenaera Velaryon, to King's Landing for the Maiden's Day Ball, and it was Daenaera, not Baela, who left betrothed to the king.

Alyn returned the following year bringing with him Prince Viserys, long believed dead; Baela waited for him at the docks with their newborn daughter, Laena. With the prince's return, Baela lost any claim to the succession for good. By 136 she was carrying a second child.