In GM's defense, aside from the Third Blackfyre Rebellion where Maekar showed 'leadership' there isn't much recorded as of now of what Maekar was up to under his brother's reign.
King Maekar was a fourth-born son, and his son Egg or Aegon V was the fourth son of a fourth son. I will say that the reason why Maekar seems like a second son is because his older brothers between him and Baelor were not very capable in war. (Rhaegal and Aerys I)
You're correct! I misspoke in the video, I think my instinct was to think that he was second behind Baelor just because the two of them are so often paired together.
And, though improbable, it's a situation not without precedent in our history. Louis XV of France was the third son of a third son (if I remember correctly!) and certainly not expected to succeed his great-grandfather, Louis XIV. It's a fascinating turn of events, including little Louis being hidden by his governess during an outbreak of measles, to prevent the "maesters" from bleeding him as they did his older brother, the dauphin, who died.
@@shelleyj3704 Louis XV was a third son, but his father and grandfather were both eldest sons. Though all of Louis XIV's sons, and all but one of his grandsons, died before him, so it was a close-run thing.
George does a good job at writing oldest middle and youngest siblings in story with how much stannis and maekar could try but never fall out of the shadow of their more popular older sibling.
Small change but after the death of Daeron II, Aerys I becomes king not Maekar. Enmity grows between Aerys and Maekar because Aerys keeps Bloodraven as hand instead of having Maekar become hand, similar to how Stannis becomes infuriated with Robert for not naming him hand after Jon Arryn dies.
Stannis was mad at Robert for not naming him hand after Jon Arryn died, but he (Stannis) also fled Kings Landing because he thought the Lannisters were after him after the death of Jon Arryn and both men knowing about Jaime and Cersi's incest.
I think Alaric Stark was the first Stannis. He was also a second son(his big brother was murked by a giant) and his personality matches exactly with Stannis.
It’s also important to note that while he did kill his brother on accident, he was literally fighting Baelor and The Laughing Storm Lyonel Baratheon as they double teamed him. The laughing storm is almost as tall as dunk. Tragic accident but that goes to show you how bad ass of a warrior he was
Looking in a whole, this era seems to have the most… quiet successions of kings. Like Daeron I, Baelor, Viserys II, Aegon IV, Aerys I, Maekar. But even then was it really? Considering it’s possible Viserys II poisoned Baelor, likely that Aegon IV poisoned his father, Maekar killed his older brother followed by the plague that killed off numerous other heirs. So frankly, the Targaryen succession has never been peaceful.
I honestly don't buy the whole "Viserys II poisoned Baelor" thing, Baelor was already 41 days into his fasting and was planning on fasting for even longer, so I don't think Viserys would need to do anything for him to die, on top of that, that's assuming Viserys wanted Baelor dead, and from what we know he was cool with him, and the theory that he did it cause "Baelor was about to launch a crusade" goes against Baelors character seeing as he left the Ironborn and the North alone for most of his reign and George himself has admitted that Baelor would rather pray than ever raise his fists, so going on a crusade seems like a DRASTIC thing to do without anything in the middle maybe pushing him to (At least with Aegon the conqueror taking over all of Westeros and Aegon V doing summerhal, George has confirmed that Aegon dreamt of the long night and saw that his family needed to be in charge to save the world, which all things considered, seems like a pretty good reason to take over a continent, and as for Aegon V, we have theories and evidence that he might have read or dreamed about the long night coming one way or another (Bloodraven maybe or maybe not being involved) and also learned that they needed dragons, so he then decided that killing a few family members to save the world was worth it, which again, all things considered, pretty good (Or at least understandable) motivation to do what he did), and that's all without mentioning that the rumors that Viserys poisoned Baelor probs came from Aegon IV projecting what he did to his father in an attempt to put attention away from himself kinslaying to take over the throne and more towards his father, the ONLY way I can see Viserys II poisoning Baelor, is if Viserys came to become sick and tired of having to rule the realm with monarchs that didn't give him his proper due or even hindered his efforts and decided them dying was for the best (Still a stretch, he clearly didn't care for the limelight and it doesn't seem like they hindered him that much), OR, if Baelor did go from peace and love to fire and blood through misinterpreting a dragon dream thinking it was a message from the seven (Or something along those lines) and Viserys learned about it and put him down as a result (Although odds are Baelor died of starvation and Aegon IV spread rumors that Viserys II did it, cause he REALLY liked to spread bullshit rumors throughout his reign)
"The targaryen succession has never been peaceful." Aegom V, jajaerys II and aerys seems pretty peaceful. Sure aegon v died in a fire but it was an accident.
I’ve always noticed the parallels between Maekar and Stannis. I think they might have some similarities in the future in that Stannis could storm the Dreadfort after he takes Winterfell, similar to how Maekar stormed Starpike.
Maekar was the fourth born son of King Daeron the 2nd, that's why Egg is Aegon the Unlikely the Fourth Son of a Fourth Son. Baelor, Rhaegal, and Aerys, he inherits the throne from Aerys the 1st
To be fair, Daeron wrote a book about his adventures. Which quickly became a favorite of every martial-minded boy born after him. That wins you hero status. Daeron I was a disaster for a king, but damn did he look cool being one.
King Maekar was the only king from Daeron the Good to Jaehaerys II to not have a Blackfyre rebellion. There had been 5 rebellions since Aegon the Unworthy’s death but the blackfyres made sure to stay the hell away from Westeros when Maekar sat the Iron Throne because even they knew that Maekar would garner way more support from the continent as a war hero in the 1st & 3rd rebellions.
I've always enjoyed Maekar. In my mind, I'm casting Sam Reid (Lestat on Interview With The Vampire) to play him in the KOTSK prequel haha. Since Maekar oddly can't remember striking the fatal blow, I've wondered if Bloodraven was interfering in the battle; manipulating events to protect the necessary bloodline for TPTWP and used Maekar to kill Baelor, then wiped his memory of doing so the way he wiped Bran's memory of who pushed him. No proof of that other than Maekar's strange inability to recollect inflicting the hit; it's just something I side-eye.
Aegon V, The Unlikely, was "unlikely" not only because he was the 4th son, but a 4th son of a 4th son. Maekar had 3 elder brothers. Talking about forgotten Targaryens 😅
@1:18 the alliance with Dorne was actually Maekar's father and GREAT-grandfather (Daeron II and Viserys II.) It all began with Viserys II and the goal of brining Dorne into the realm was ultimately by Daeron II, but Maekar's grandfather (Aegon IV) actually tried to mess the whole thing up out of mercurial whim by attacking Dorne and (once again) trying to bring them into the realm by force, even though that had already resulted in the deaths of a queen and a king in the past. Also, he did this despite the fact that at that point, his son Daeron II was already married to Myriah Martell, so he was planning an attack on his daughter-in-law's homeland. Aegon IV's sobriquet of Aegon the Unworthy is well- and thoroughly-earned. Fortunately, his first attempted invasion was scuppered when a storm wrecked the fleet that he send to attack Dorne by sea, and his second attempt went down in history as one of the greatest follies in the history of House Targaryen. He ordered the construction of artificial dragons that would shoot wildfire, kind of like a medieval tank. And these artificial dragons were made of WOOD. Aegon IV nevertheless ordered them to be dragged to the Boneway, one of the mountain passes to Dorne, to begin the invasion, despite the fact that these "lumbering constructions" had no way of transversing the mountainous, steep, and treacherous mountain pass. And they never even got as far as getting stuck in the Boneway and having to be abandoned, because while they were being transported through the Kingswood, the Wildfire inside them ignited due to its incredible instability, and burned down a quarter of the Kingswood. THAT spectacular failure finally resulted in Aegon IV giving-up on dreams of conquering Dorne forever.
Pycel did mention that the summer of King Maekar’s reign was the hottest summer on record. Talking to Eddard Stark when he came to “seek council” and ask about Jon Arynn in GoT. The heat was quite notable indeed in The Sworn Sword. Possibly a small representation of the dichotomy between the weather and the Long Night. And maybe the Doom of Valyria as well. Egg’s training to be a knight, to rule, learning about small folk, strengthening Targaryen rule. Might be the only way to deafest the threat that lies in the North. Winter Is Coming. 🥶🥶🥶🥶
Maekar was actually the fourth son of Daeron II. Baelor Breaskpear was firstborn, then Aerys, who ruled as Aerys I after Daeron II's death since Baelor predeceased Daeron, then Rhaegel, who is described as "meek, mad, and sickly," and died during the reign of Aerys I. As a result, when Aerys I died, that's when Maekar ascended to the throne. You can see this on Maekar's armor in the picture: his personal coat of arms was the Targaryen three-headed dragon quartered, to represent his status as a fourth son. And this is part of why Maekar's son Aegon V was known as Aegon the Unlikely: Maekar was the fourth son of his father, and Aegon was the fourth son of Maekar, so a betting man would never have expected Aegon V to rule as king, but that's exactly what happened.
@@QuinnTheGM Lovely! At least you didn't stay only in Dublin as some tourists do, you got to see some of the countryside and small towns. That's how you get a proper feel for the country.
As for Maekar, he is the best of Daeron’s sons after Baelor of course, but even still it’s best that Baelors line didn’t make it because They seemed like regular Princelings, though not as bad as Aerion, but Maekar becoming king aloud Egg and his brother Admin to have more political influence, and those 2 were arguably the best Targaryens of the next generation
Something Im curious about is why Maekar was a terrible father. Aerion being a proto Joffrey and Daeron being a low ambition alcoholic. We dont have that much info on his daughters but it seems like the reason Aemon and Aegon didn't turn out bad was because they both left Kingslanding early on. Aemon got his morals through being a maester while Aegon of course was essentially raised by Dunk who was a good role model
Your videos are always exceptional, but that particular homophone is spelled “annals” not “annuls.” Hate to be a pedant but I figure you’ll use the word again and thought you might like the info.
I think if we ever got a TV adaptation of this we would find out that Maekar was actually a bad dude, and the history books just cover for him. I think Martin really likes to make his history ambiguous, and makes it realistic in that the winners write the history, and they often write themselves in a better light.
In fairness, you don't need a reason to fight with your son in a trial by combat. Also, Baelor dies immediately after anyone realizes there is a problem. You exaggerate how long it took. Good video.
The alliance with Dorne was not formed by Maekars Grandfather. Aegon the 4th was his Grandfather, and he hated the Dornish. The alliance was made by his uncle Baelor and his Father.
As many people already pointed out Maekar was the 4th son and that’s a pretty major aspect of his character. The fact he’s a 4th son rather than “the spare” or 2nd son is incredibly significant as he never expected to rule. This means he wasn’t primed for leadership in the same ways other kings often were, which could be a positive or a negative depending how you look at it. Sorry if this comes off as rude but you should probably do a little more research beforehand if you’re going to made such a big mistake throughout the whole video (and I’m sure you put a ton of work into videos!! but it’s just kind of careless)
Some would bad luck. Others say it was the Three Eyed Raven or R’hollor manipulated the events so that TPTWP would come. Remember how The Wood Witch said from the bloodline of Aerys II and Rhaella would come TPTWP. The only way to get their descendants on the Throne was to get Egg on the Throne
I have no kind words to say regarding Daeron I The Young Dragon. He was a fool who like his brother after him played a role in extinguishing his own father's bloodline and exposing Westeros to the reign of the shitty Aegon IV and the Blackfyres
With the fickle nature of life, expecting a 2nd or 3rd son to not rule, seems like a serious case of putting all your eggs in one basket. History is littered with rulers that died ignobly of diarrhea, eating too much, and infections. Richard the Lionheart was too bold and a crossbow shot in the arm cause him to die of infection shortly afterwards
another great vid. We were just in the LML steam and @GreyWasteTim gave you a shout out, so I posted a link to the channel. Hope you don't mind. cheers!
Where are his other grandchildren? He had ton of grandchildren then poof, they aren't mentioned or seen ever again. It seems like a poor world buildings by George.
Bro, Maekar was the fourth son, not the second son. You probably have not read the sources past the first book of Dunk and Egg, otherwise you wouldn’t have made such a big blunder. Like there is a brother Aerys I, who reigns after Daeron II and before Maekar I. It is during the reign of Aerys I that the next two stories of Dunk and Egg take place. Just fix up the video and post it back again.
