First Dornish War

Even before the war truly began, Queen Rhaenys had already flown over Dorne on Meraxes during the War of Conquest itself, and Princess Meria Martell warned her then that her land would not yield to Aegon. Meanwhile the Conqueror was crowned in Oldtown and began ruling from the Iron Throne in King's Landing.

Dorne remained the one kingdom still unbowed, so in year 4 Aegon launched the invasion he hoped would complete the conquest of Westeros. Rhaenys led the assault by sea, burning the Planky Town on her way to Sunspear, while Aegon and Lord Harlen Tyrell pushed through the Prince's Pass against the lords of the Red Mountains. Thirst and heat, though, cut down much of the invading force, especially the men who marched on Hellholt.

Aegon fared better: he took Blackmont after a short siege held mostly by the old, the young, and women, and found Skyreach, seat of House Fowler, already deserted. At Ghost Hill a champion of House Toland challenged him to single combat; Aegon killed him with ease using Dark Sister, only to realize afterward it had been a decoy — House Toland had already fled.

Lord Orys Baratheon's column fared worse along the Boneway. The Dornishmen struck at night and captured Orys along with much of his knights and bannermen, taken by the Wyl of Wyl.

The Targaryens took the abandoned castles and burned down those that still held out. Sunspear stood nearly empty, its Martells in hiding; there Aegon and his sisters gathered the remaining courtiers and declared themselves the victors. They left Lord Jon Rosby in command of the Dornish capital and an army under Harlen Tyrell to crush any rising.

As soon as the Targaryens and their dragons sailed home, Dorne rose exactly as planned. The garrisons left behind were put to the sword, Tyrell's entire army vanished into the sands between Hellholt and Vaith, and Lord Rosby was thrown from a window to his death.

Around then a ransom offer arrived for Orys and his men. Aegon agreed to the terms, and in year 7 the captives were freed for their weight in gold — though Orys had lost his sword hand, which enraged the king.

As the war dragged on, the dragons burned Dornish strongholds again, and Dorne struck back at La Selva, in the Cape of Wrath. After further aerial attacks, Lord Fowler assaulted Nightsong and Ser Joffrey Dayne went so far as to threaten Oldtown; Starfall, Skyreach and Hellholt burned under dragonfire. At Hellholt, a scorpion bolt struck Meraxes in the eye in year 10: the dragon died and fell with her rider, Queen Rhaenys.

Aegon and Visenya's grief ran so deep that the two years that followed became known as the Dragon's Wrath. The Targaryens burned every Dornish stronghold at least once, sparing only Sunspear; some believed it was fear of a Lysene device in Meria Martell's hands capable of killing dragons, while Archmaester Timotty's Conjectures suggested a different calculation — that Aegon hoped it would turn the Dornish lords against House Martell. Surviving letters even suggest that marcher lords pressed Dorne to yield, claiming the Martells had bought their own safety. Whatever the truth, the Dornish lords never abandoned Sunspear.

Aegon and Visenya put bounties on the heads of Dornish lords, who answered with rewards for every Targaryen or ally killed. Half a dozen lords died this way, though only two of their killers lived to collect. The king was attacked three times and Visenya several more; when both were set upon in the streets of King's Landing, only Visenya's speed saved her brother, and that attack led to the founding of the Kingsguard in year 10, with Visenya choosing its first members herself. Lord Fell was killed in a King's Landing brothel, and the Wyl of Wyl spread terror, above all at Fawnton and Old Oak.

From the Red Mountains to the mouth of the Greenblood, Dorne lay in ashes, and still the Dornish kept fighting.

When Princess Meria Martell died in year 13, her eldest son Nymor became ruler of Sunspear. Weary of the war, he sent his daughter, Princess Deria, under escort, bearing an offer of peace, Meraxes's skull, and a letter.

Deria delivered her father's terms: Dorne wanted peace, but as a peace between two sovereign realms. Aegon nearly turned it down until he read the letter; he never revealed what it said, not even afterward, which fed theories — among them that Rhaenys was still alive, held by the enemy. Aegon I finally accepted the terms and withdrew his forces from Dorne.