Although A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and the novellas that inspired it all focus on a smaller-scale perspective of Westeros, that’s not to say they don’t touch on major turning points in the history of the realm. In fact, its first season takes place at a time of inadvertent turmoil about to beset the Seven Kingdoms—a moment in time that alters the fate of House Targaryen and Westeros itself forever.
Part of that seismic change occurs in the climax of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ debut season: the accidental death of Prince Baelor Targaryen during the tourney at Ashford Meadow in 209 AC. The death of the heir apparent changes the Targaryen line of succession and results in the loss of a widely popular political leader at a time when House Targaryen was buffeted by a declining number of those. As we see in Knight‘s season one finale, the mantle of Daeron the Good’s successor falls to Baelor’s son, Prince Valarr.
But Valarr never takes the throne. Neither does his brother, ending Baelor’s line—and not by war, or political assassination, or even accident, but by the simple fact that not even the blood of the dragon could escape one of the deadliest epidemics in Westerosi history.
What Was the Great Spring Sickness?
The plague known as the Great Spring Sickness (named for the seasonal transitory period preceding a period of relatively fair climate for Westeros, with the next notable years-long winter not arriving until 231 AC) broke out in the year 209 AC and would last around two years—killing tens of thousands of people in the process. The Great Spring Sickness spread very quickly and killed even quicker: it was said victims could exhibit symptoms in a morning and be dead by nightfall.
Naturally, the virality of the disease made Westeros’ major cities a hotbed for disease, while its spread was slowed in more rural areas. In Dorne and the Vale, specifically, the sickness was largely kept at bay due to early responses to cease all travel and trade across their borders (Ser Duncan and his young squire Aegon “Egg” Targaryen both escape the plague, traveling in Dorne at the time its borders and ports were closed).
But while much of the realm suffered, King’s Landing was hit hard by the plague. Ruling king Daeron II Targaryen succumbed to the sickness within a year of its outbreak, as did both Princes Valarr and Matarys, throwing the line of succession into disarray. The Dragonpit, which famously once raised the Targaryen family’s draconic mounts for generations before their seeming extinction, was filled with the bodies of the dead and doused with wildfire—with pyres across the city burning to such a degree that a quarter of the capital was destroyed by fire over the course of the sickness.
The Aftermath of the Great Spring Sickness
The death of Daeron II, as well as Valarr and Matarys, moved the line of succession significantly. Daeron’s brother Aerys became the first of his name to take the Iron Throne following the deaths of his brother and his great nephews, and although he would rule for over a decade, he sired no direct heir, leading the Targaryen succession to carry on over to Dareon II’s surviving son, Maekar.
House Targaryen was not the only notable body disrupted by the plague’s reach—Damon Lannister, the ruler of Casterly Rock, perished from the disease, and the Faith of the Seven faced massive losses due to the challenges in treating the disease, with the High Septon, many of the church’s most prominent clergy, and almost all of the Silent Sisters, the sect dedicated to tending to the bodies of the dead in the faith, all succumbing as well.
But Aerys’ unlikely rule (combined with an obsession with books and prophecy that regularly distracted him from the rigors of ruling the realm) also led to several major crises for the Seven Kingdoms during his reign, with Aerys’ hand, Brynden Rivers the Bloodraven, largely ruling in his stead. After the relative peace of Daeron II’s rule, it became dangerous to traverse Westeros, in part due to lawlessness but also due to the combined effects of the aftermath of the sickness and a short summer that brought with it a two-year drought in the same period.
The death of many of the hostages Daeron’s forces held in the wake of the first Blackfyre Rebellion from the Great Spring Sickness also played a significant factor in plans moving ahead for a second rebellion in 212 AC, led by Lord Gormon Peake and Daemon Blackfyre’s heir, Daemon II, with the crown holding less leverage against the Blackfyres’ supporters and with Aerys’ interests largely focused elsewhere. Although the second Blackfyre Rebellion would be quashed before it could begin in earnest, a third would break out during Aerys’ rule seven years later.
But rebellions aside, it was really the impact of the Targaryen royal line falling along Prince Maekar’s line rather than Baelor’s that would have a lasting impact in the age of House Targaryen’s decline. George R.R. Martin has often called Prince Baelor’s death a decisive moment in Westerosi history, the loss of what could have been one of the most beloved kings in all of House Targaryen’s generations of rule. With the Great Spring Sickness taking his sons too, Baelor’s legacy was almost entirely extinguished within a few short years—setting the stage for a very different pathway to House Targaryen’s eventual downfall.
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