Game of Thrones: History of Rhaegar Targaryen

Rhaegar Targaryen was the firstborn son of the Mad King,Aerys II Targaryen and Queen Rhaella Targaryen.

EditChildhood and Early Life

In his youth, Rhaegar was known as a peculiarly bookish child, with a penchant for study and learning. Some knights of his father's court worried that he would turn out to be too much a scholar like his ancestor Daeron II.

After discovering something in a book however, Rhaegar suddenly became obsessed with becoming a warrior, and trained obsessively until he was a highly regarded swordsman. Many throughout the kingdoms saw in him the Targaryen greatness of old, a welcome relief from Aerys' apparent insanity.

Tywin Lannister, then the Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen, hoped to have his daughter Cersei marry Rhaegar, uniting the houses. However, Aerys believed this marriage to be beneath his son, and instead married Rhaegar to Elia Martell of Dorne, driving a wedge between House Targaryen and House Lannister.

Rhaegar and Elia had two children together, a daughter named Rhaenys, and a son named Aegon. According to Maester Aemon in the books, it is said that Rhaegar believed this son was the prophesied "Prince That Was Promised."

Despite these two children, Rhaegar and Elia's marriage would not last. During a tournament at Harrenhal, Rhaegar was crowned the champion. Customarily, he would have given the victor's wreath to his wife. However, in front of a crowd of hundreds, he presented the wreath to Lyanna Stark, naming her the tournament's "Queen of Love and Beauty." At the time, Lyanna herself was betrothed to marry Robert Baratheon.

Some time later, both Rhaegar and Lyanna fled to Dorne. According to some, Rhaegar abducted and raped Lyanna. However, a volume in the Citadel library reveals that Rhaegar's marriage was actually annulled, and he and Lyanna were married in secret. 

Lyanna's brother Brandon Stark, under the assumption that she had been kidnapped, traveled to King's Landing and demanded that she be returned. Instead, King Aerys imprisoned him. Brandon's father Rickard Stark traveled south as well in response, to ask for his son's release. He too was imprisoned, before both he and his son were brutally executed.

Eddard Stark, Brandon's brother and Rickard's son, became the new Lord of Winterfell, joining with Robert Baratheon in open rebellion of House Targaryen, beginning the War of the Usurper, also known as Robert's Rebellion.

While Rhaegar Targaryen was not present in King's Landing for any of these events, he was soon summoned from Dorne where he was staying with Lyanna Stark in order to lead the loyalist forces of the Iron Throne.

At the Battle of the Trident, Rhaegar engaged in single combat with Robert Baratheon, and was slain in the fight. The location of that confrontation was henceforth known as the "Ruby Ford," named for the gems that were smashed from Rhaegar's armor by Robert Baratheon's death blow.

The war itself would continue on for some weeks, with the victorious rebel army marching on King's Landing. During that time however, Tywin Lannister betrayed King Aerys and sacked the capitol himself. King Aerys himself was killed by a member of his own Kingsguard and son of Tywin, Jamie Lannister.

Rhaegar's former wife Elia, along with his children Rhaenys and a son named Aegon, were killed by Ser Gregor Clegane in the Red Keep. Rhaegar's mother Queen Rhaella escaped the fighting to Dragonstone, where she died giving birth to Daenerys Targaryen.

After arriving in the capitol following the sack of King's Landing, Eddard Stark departed to break the Siege of Storm's End. He then traveled south with Howland Reed and four other bannermen, in order to bring Lyanna home from Dorne.

Eddard found his sister at the Tower of Joy in the western reaches of the region, guarded by the last surviving members of the Targaryen Kingsguard, Lord Commander Gerold Hightower and Ser Arthur Dayne, also known as the "Sword of the Morning." Both Targaryen loyalists were killed in the confrontation that followed, marking an end to the War of the Usurper.

After entering the tower, Eddard Stark finds that Lyanna is dying, but had just given birth to a son, fathered by Rhaegar. Before she passes, Lyanna makes Eddard promise to protect her child. 

In the aftermath, Eddard returned to Winterfell with the remains of Lyanna, which he buries in the crypts beneath the castle. Eddard passes her son off as his own bastard child, naming him Jon Snow, and raising him at Winterfell. Because we know Lyanna and Rhaegar did get married, Jon Snow is in fact noone's bastard. 

The true lineage of Jon Snow was presumed lost after Eddard Stark's death a decade and a half later, but was rediscovered through Bran Stark's visions.

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