Emotional Damage–Chapter 5–Lyn Gala

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11 Minutes

Historians argue that the defining moment in King Dameon’s youth was his extended visit to the North shortly before his wedding to Rhea Royce.  We know from the journals of Septa Nagella, who was a prolific writer and positioned within the Red Keep, that young Daemon often bemoaned his lack of a sister because that denied him a Targaryen bride.  Septa Nagella denounced the unnaturalness of such a sentiment, words that could have seen her executed for treason if spoken aloud given that the Doctrine of Exceptionalism allowed sibling marriages and even blessed them under the Seven. 

However, we see an older Daemon refuse to match any of his children to siblings. He remained an ardent purist of the blood, but King Daemon wished to see his children matched in magical lines, favoring the Royce, Reed, Baratheon, Valeryon, Stark, Celtigar, Strong, and Blackwood lines with later generations adding the houses of Martell, Blackwood, Karstark, and even Farwynd. Daemon secured cousin marriages among his grandchildren, a tradition continued long after he died.  He even married a great grandchild to Prince Marfrey Martell, a second-born son in Sunspeare, continuing the reconciliation of Dorne begun by his unconventional invitation to the Second Great Council. 

Daemon established the rule that the heir and direct line must contain fifty percent Valyrian blood in order to keep their relationships with dragons. Many families such as Baratheon, Strong and Royce paid high bride prices in the ensuing generations in order to bring new Targaryens into the family and maintain the fifty percent blood purity that would make their house eligible for royal matches. 

The rule also brought several of Saera Targaryen’s grandchildren back to Westeros, especially those who had Valyrian lineages, such as Sharyis whose parents were two of Saera’s children, and whose grandparents were, reportedly, Vaegon Targaryen on one side, and a Velaryon on the other, with some suggesting Corlys may have fathered a child with Sarae during his travels. Although historians question the veracity of such a claim, Daemon I seems to have accepted it because Sharyis’ children were counted among the few pure Valyrian children, rather than the half-blooded Targaryens that were so prevalent during Daemon I’s reign.

Some historians see this redefinition of houses considered “acceptable” for a royal match as a simple expansion of what Viserys the Weak began by marrying a daughter of House Hightower whose name has been lost to history, but others see Daemon I’s policies as a significant change. It also began the Great Reclaiming, with Andal houses searching for evidence of magical powers, such as prophecy, in order to attract the royal family’s attention.

The consequences of the Great Reclaiming has led to more books being written than any other event in Westerosi history, and certainly the war that followed was disastrous, especially for the Westerlands and Riverlands, but most credit Daemon I for ending sibling marriage and broadening the definition of powerful blood to include lines with other magical gifts.

But ironically, what happened in the North to change Daemon I is a subject of debate with very little surviving evidence. The North lacked the tradition of journaling with only lords keeping records, and those were tightly focused on management of the land. Letter writing was generally limited to practical matters, meaning we have few contemporary reports from the period.

We do know the marriage of Daemon Targaryen and Rhea Royce was moved from early in 97AC to the last month of the year to accommodate Daemon I’s desire to learn from Lord Stark. Court scribes for Jaehaerys I recorded an official delay of the marriage in order for Daemon to learn skills required for the direct management of a castle and lands.

In this time period, a prince would have been trained in swordplay, jousting, courtly manners, diplomacy, the various houses and the histories of each, and languages. Young Prince Daemon was skilled in some courtly manners, such as dancing; however, many journals contemporary with his youth report that Daemon was unruly, disrespectful, and prone to outbursts of violence.  His own father, Prince Baelon the Brave wrote of his son, “He has too much of his mother in him to be peaceable. At most, we can hope that he learns to speak in private rather than insulting in public.” In short, one can conclude his lessons in diplomacy failed. Yet for the rest of his life, he spoke highly of the diplomatic lessons learned at Lord Stark’s side.

In addition, a prince of the day did not learn to balance books, assist failing landholders, identify tax avoiders, mediate compromises or manage the stockpiles required to prepare a castle for winter. These were all tasks a king or prince would relegate to others. 

However, Daemon, Prince of Runestone did show skills in these areas.  He was known for patrolling Runestone, not on dragonback but on horse or even on a Vale unicorn,  one of the few without First Men blood to ever mount a unicorn. While he never pulled a sheep from a crevasse, an activity that Lady Rhea reported doing several times in her meticulous journals, Daemon did mediate conflicts, assist in stockpiling and maintaining weapons, guard trade routes, identify and even execute tax avoiders, and pay for training for several young landowners who lacked requisite skills. All this is recorded in Lady Rhea’s journals.

We can conclude that Lord Stark taught Daemon I these landholder skills, especially since out of all the great houses, the Starks had ruled the longest and demanded the most respect from their bannermen.  And the personal enforcement of laws that some historians point to in order to bolster their claim that Daemon retained his violent nature his entire life could also be a lesson taught by Lord Rickon Stark—he who passes judgment must swing the sword. 

But these are conjectures. What do we know as fact regarding Daemon’s time in the North? We know that he travelled with Rickon Stark to help repel a wildling incursion on Umber land.  Daemon was injured defending the Umber heir and was gifted a bronze necklace, an artifact from the Age of Heroes that had been owned by the Umbers for a thousand years.

That necklace appears in the last marital contract amendment of Daemon I and Rhea Royce.  The necklace is listed as a gift to Rhea Royce to be handed down to a child of First Men blood, and if the marriage had no issue, the necklace was to be returned to the Umbers.  The necklace is specifically excluded from the royal treasury and could never be counted as a Targaryen artifact.

Some see this as the Umber desire to have the necklace remain in the hands of those with First Men blood.  However, some posit that this is the first sign of conflict between Daemon I and his elder brother.  Such an artifact purportedly created by Bran the Builder or possibly his son, Brandon, the architect of High Tower, would have great value. Viserys could have claimed the treasure for himself had not the amended contract forbid it.  Given he was friends with Otto Hightower, a second son and later Hand of the King, it is conceivable that Daemon distrusted his brother to honor the Umber request and he demanded it be added to the marriage contract.

We also know that Daemon flew to Mormont land on his dragon Caraxes, helping to repel an Ironborn attack when Stark’s army could not have reached that island in time to assist.  On that occasion, Daemon is listed as having burned seven longships, several of which were trying to flee. The event is recorded by an unnamed Mormont scribe who described Daemon as “fierce” and “mastrful” [sic] and the Ironborn as “curs” and “invaders who require burning from the world.” Those who claim Daemon acted with too much violence during this incident ignore the Mormont records, which place Daemon in the right.

House Frey also recorded a visit from Daemon during this time. Lord Addam Frey complained that Daemon spent only one night in his castle after smallfolk reported seeing Caraxes over the Neck for several days.  Lord Addam described Daemon as “arrogant” and a “pissant” in his personal journals.  One assumes he was more polite to Daemon’s face given that his head remained attached to his body.  His son, Forrest Frey, had a different viewpoint.  “The prince came from the sky on his red beast like war itself seeking battle. He challenged a dozen brave knights, and defeated all, even when they fought him three at once.” 

No one has ever found a reason for Daemon’s visit to the crannogmen, but by the time Daemon’s great grandchildren were seeking matches, two daughters went to House Reed, and after that, House Reed became a source of royal matches despite Reed being a small, almost negligible house and the Neck being of very little interest to anyone other than land armies trying to march North.

We also have, from Lady Rhea’s records, evidence that Daemon was directly responsible for the reintroduction of weirwood trees to the Vale.  Daemon authored the edict requiring the lord of Runestone’s permission to cut a weirwood, a law that stood for almost two hundred years until the species had become ubiquitous in the Vale, far beyond the boundaries of Runestone. The weirwoods came, no doubt, from Lord Stark himself. One line in Lord Rickon Stark’s journal reads, “Prepared ww, trad. Removal next week.”

Maester Duncan suggests that this should be read together with Lady Rhea’s records to mean that Lord Rickon prepared a weirwood tree in the traditional manner for Starks. Specifically, he maintains that Rickon would have killed an enemy and bled him on the roots. 

However, Maester Gillit argues that every execution on Stark lands was recorded, as was the disposition of the body, and no executions happened between the penning of Lord Rickon’s line and the appearance of sapling weirwood trees on dragonback as described in Lady Rhea’s journal.  He suggests that one should look hundreds of years later and read a line from Lady Sansa Stark during the Long Night to correctly interpret Rickon’s enigmatic entry.  Lady Sansa’s journal describes herself and her siblings each cutting their thighs and kneeling in front of the weirwood in prayer as they prepared for the battle. Stark blood, not the blood of wights and white walkers, fed the trees on that day. Gillit suggests this is a much more plausible description of a traditional Stark preparation for a weirwood.

The last great mystery we have for this period is more a curiosity than one of the monumental shifts in personality we see between young Daemon and Prince Daemon of Runestone or even King Daemon I.  Young Daemon was described as fanciful and romantic. When girls caught his attention, whether that was his Aunt Gael or a favorite whore, the women described elaborate gifts.  Queen Alysanne recorded, not long before the official betrothal of Daemon and Royce, that Daemon had gifted Gael on her birthday an extravagant pearl necklace that was a full bib of lace with pearls encrusting it.

Such pearl necklaces are only listed as trade goods from ships leaving Myr, suggesting Daemon flew to Myr to retrieve the present. The pattern of extravagance continues with Daemon’s favorite paramours, with one describing an emerald he had gifted her, and a house madam recording a ruby ring being used as payment from the “Prince of Fleabottom” to “Lady White,” a whore who is still recorded by history only in that one line.

However, Daemon I changed that pattern when he started purchasing gifts for his wife. The first gift he purchased required him to fly on dragonback for three weeks, with one report suggesting that he hired himself out over the Great Grass Sea, defending a caravan against Dothraki in order to earn coin. He arrived in Ibben and demanded to see their most valuable sheep.  He purchased six rams and eighteen ewes, with two rams and six ewes being golden. Golden fleeces became the signature of Runestone sheep, and top-quality gold yarn earned more than six times the price of even the best quality Westerosi yarn.  Those sheep became the spine of Runestone’s improved economy, especially when paired with the new docks built by King Jaehaerys as part of the royal patronage that came with the marriage to Daemon.

The first marriage contract also included a dragon pit, but a later amendment attributed to Daemon saw the construction of a dragon pit replaced with an expanded and repaired road from Runestone to Gulltown and from Gulltown to the Gates of the Moon.

Later gifts to Rhea Royce included warhorses, the construction of saltworks along the coast line, exotic crop seeds, a communal weaving shop that was the start of Runestone’s lace exports, and a pair of full-mast trading ships.  The extravagance of his youth yielded to a lifetime of practical gifts that offered a return on any coin spent.

Some point to Rhea Royce to explain the change of behavior.  Lady Rhea’s dislike of what she called in her journals “frivolities” is well documented, and several of her early suitors were rejected for the very flaw Daemon showed in his youth—a preference for pretty baubles. However, others identify Lord Rickon Stark as the source of change. They cite the purchase of sheep in particular, given that Daemon did not yet know his future wife well. The North was a difficult land and practical gifts that contributed to a community’s survival were always preferred over what people of the North called “Southern foolishness.”  These historians suggest Lord Rickon encouraged Daemon to think of a resource that would benefit Lady Rhea’s holdings. They say that after Daemon saw his wife’s appreciation for the sheep he had purchased at great cost and effort, especially given he had to hire a ship to transport them back to Runestone, he continued to offer practical, Northern gifts.

Most would agree that Daemon I’s reign truly began when he became the Prince of Runestone, so it is distressing how little information we have on how he prepared for his role or why the brash and violent young man Prince Baelon described became the far more circumspect and dangerous man who walked away from the Second Great Council as King Daemon, first of his name, King of the Andals, the Roynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm. Given how influential Lord Rickon Stark was in Daemon’s life, as shown by the number of shifts in Daemon’s personality after a relatively short apprenticeship, it is a tragedy that the events of the North that changed Daemon will never be known.