The Dance of Dragons and Lions // GoT

Chapter Eight

The seeds of war are oft planted during times of peace. 

So has it been in Westeros. The bloody struggle for the Iron Throne known as the Dance of the Dragons and Lions, fought from  298 AC and 305AC, had its roots a quarter of a century earlier, at the beginning of the longest and most peaceful reign that any of the Kings of the Seven Kingdoms enjoyed, save perhaps that of Jaehaerys I Targaryen, the Conciliator. 

King Aerys, the Mad King, had only three children (and countless that did not live past a day) and none had taken root and continued the Targaryen line. His sister, the great Queen Daenyra, the wife of King Robert Baratheon, continued it. Having birthed five, healthy children, only one lived long enough to marry and breed.

But during the reign of King Robert Baratheon, first of his name, many of claims and claimants appeared that many maesters believe that the Dance of the Dragons and Lions, or some similar struggle, was inevitable. 

This was not apparent in the early years of Robert's reign, for in Prince Joffrey and Prince Steffon,  His Grace had the proverbial "heir and a spare,"and seldom has the realm been blessed with two more able princes. 

In 289 AC,at the age of seven, Joffrey was formally anointed Crown Prince and heir to the Iron Throne. While Steffon, at the age of six, was anointed the heir to Storm's End (and Robert hoped the future Hand of the King).

But it was not to be. Joffrey had no interest in sword fighting, or horse riding. He had no interest in lessons, or learning. Steffon was much the opposite.

Knight at fourteen, a tourney champion at sixteen,he became his father's favorite the moment he was born as the great King Robert could see the greatness in the boy at first glance. 

Though Steffon never served his father as Hand of the King or any other Small Council Position, that was only because thatoffice was occupied by Jon Arryn, the King's most trusted friend and"companion of my labors." 

Nor was Daeron Baratheon any less accomplished.The younger prince earned his knighthood at twelve, and was wed as intelligent as any of his tutors. Though he and Steffon enjoyed a healthy rivalry, no man doubted the love that bound them. 

The succession appeared solid as stone.But the stone began to crack in 298 AC, when Joffrey, by drunken mistake, had called his half-sister, the Princess Rhaelle "pretty beyond believe. If she had not come from that dragon whore, I'd fuck her and marry her and give her my golden children".

Prince Steffon and Prince Daeron had been angered by such words, and as Knights do, stood up for the helpless woman, in this case their sister Rhaelle. They had beaten Joffrey ugly, until the Lannister guards intervened, but then the King's Guards intervened on the behalf of the Prince's once they saw the two boys being treated roughly.

The King's Guards drew their swords against the Lannister guards, and it took no genius to know that the Lannisters stood no chance against Ser Barristan the Bold or the others. They retreated, carrying the bloodied Joffrey to his Mother, instead of the Maester.

Once Robert heard of this, he was said to have laughed and said "The beating may teach him to hold his tongue". As if that were ever possible. Joffrey does not hold his tongue.

The rift between the half-brothers grew ever then. Many hailed Steffon as the rightful Prince and heir to the Iron Throne. The Lannisters and their bannermen, and any loyalists hailed Joffrey as the rightful heir.

And here we must digress to say a word about our sources, for much ofwhat happened in the years that followed happened behind closed doors, inthe privacy of stairwells, council rooms, and bedchambers, and the full truthof it will likely never be known.