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There, at the age of sixteen, he received his knighthood.
Aerys chose to be dubbed a knight by his friend, Tywin. Aerys's reign began in AC with great promise. Over the peaceful first dozen years, the realm recovered from the tragic events at Summerhall and the War of the Ninepenny Kings, growing strong and prosperous. However, this would not remain. Under his father and grandfather, the royal court at King's Landing had grown stuffy and conservative, filled with hidebound old men. Aerys brought sweeping changes, replacing many prominent officials with younger faces.
Impressed by the ruthlessness young Ser Tywin Lannister had shown in dealing with a rebellion against House Lannister , he named Tywin as the Hand of the King. Aerys did not lack ambition. Upon his coronation he declared it was his wish to be the greatest king in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, a conceit certain of his friends encouraged by suggesting one day he would be known as Aerys the Wise or Aerys the Great.
Aerys was very active in the early years of his reign and held a splendid court. He loved music, dancing and masked balls, and was exceedingly fond of young beautiful women, filling the court with fair maidens from across the kingdoms. Some say he had as many mistresses as Aegon the Unworthy , though most historians highly doubt that. Whatever the case, Aerys always lost interest in his lovers fairly quickly. King Aerys was full of schemes, boasting about his grand plans, then quickly forgetting about them in less than a moon's turn. Aerys boasted upon his coronation about invading the Stepstones and adding them to the Seven Kingdoms.
When Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell visited King's Landing in AC , the king hatched a plan to build a new Wall hundreds of miles north of the current one and claim all the lands in between. After complaining about the stink of King's Landing in AC , Aerys wanted to build a new city of white marble on the south bank of the Blackwater.
When he visited Dorne in AC , he told the Princess of Dorne that he would build an underwater canal and make the deserts bloom.
Nothing ever came from any of these grandiose schemes, as Aerys was changeable and grew as bored with his ideas as quickly as they came to him. Tywin was diligent, decisive, tireless, fiercely intelligent, just and stern. Eventually, Aerys came to regret his choice for Hand — not because of any lack of competence on Tywin's part, but rather the opposite. Tywin also appeased the high lords by repealing all the laws, rights and protections that were granted to the smallfolk by King Aegon V Targaryen. Tywin won the support of the wealthy merchants by reducing tariffs on shipping to Oldtown , Lannisport and King's Landing , which increased trade.
He sternly punished any baker caught mixing sawdust with bread or any butcher selling horsemeat as beef. Tywin built new roads and repaired old ones, held splendid tournaments about the realm to the delight of knights and commons both. Despite these accomplishments, Tywin was little loved for he was also humorless, unforgiving, unbending, proud and insensitive.
Traits that earned him many rivals, even his bannermen while greatly respecting him and loyally following him to war, bore him little love. The relationship between Aerys and Tywin was always complicated. When he was still a prince, Aerys had developed a crush on Joanna Lannister who was to marry her cousin Tywin. Aerys was present at the wedding in AC and drank too much during the feast, leading to him joking that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished and to taking certain liberties during the bedding.
It is said that Tywin did not forget Aerys's behavior. Aerys's marriage to his younger sister, Rhaella , was less happy than Tywin's. Aerys was known to keep many mistresses, and whilst Rhaella turned a blind eye to her husband's infidelities, she objected heavily against "turning my ladies into whores". Whilst no official reason was given for Joanna's abrupt dismissal, she was not the first of Rhaella's ladies to be dismissed in this fashion, nor was she the last. Aerys's many relationships were not the only strain on his marriage.
Rhaella's difficulties with childbirth played their part as well. Prince Daeron , born in AC , survived for only half a year. In AC , Prince Aegon was born two months premature. He would die in AC. While Aerys was compassionate at first, comforting Rhaella in her grief, he turned suspicious in time.
By AC , he had decided that Rhaella had been unfaithful to him, and that none of the stillbirths, miscarriages and dead princes had been his, as the gods would not want a bastard to sit the Iron Throne. He soon confined Rhaella to Maegor's Holdfast , and ordered that two septa 's would sleep in her bed from that moment forth, to ensure she would remain faithful. Meanwhile, Aerys's relationship with his Hand was breaking down as well, the pair's friendship fraying. Where previously Aerys had heeded Tywin's counsel, he now often disagreed with his Hand and did the opposite of what Tywin suggested.
When Myr and Tyrosh became involved in a trade war against Volantis , Lord Tywin suggested that Westeros remained neutral. King Aerys, in response, provided gold and arms to the Volantenese. Over Tywin's objections, Aerys doubled the port fees for Oldtown and King's Landing and tripled them at Lannisport and other ports in Westeros. Trade suffered and a delegation of merchants arrived before the Iron Throne to protest. Aerys lied to them and blamed the matter on his Hand of the King stating;.
Lord Tywin shits gold, but of late he has been constipated and had to find some other ways to fill our coffers. Aerys restored the port fees to the previous levels, which won him much popularity and acclaim for himself, whilst the king's lies and actions left Tywin with nothing but scorn. Aerys objected to many of Tywin's appointments and filled the offices with men of his own choosing.
By now, Aerys had become aware of the tales being told in his kingdoms; that it was Lord Tywin who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms and that Aerys was but a hollow figurehead. These statements greatly angered the king. When Lord Tywin's captain of guard, Ser Ilyn Payne , had been overheard to repeat this statement, Aerys had the man's tongue torn out with hot pincers. Lady Joanna Lannister returned to the court for this event, bringing with her her six-year-old twins, Cersei and Jaime.
Drunkenly, Aerys asked Joanna if nursing her children had ruined her breasts. Whilst the question was a great amusement for Lord Tywin's rivals, it humiliated Lady Joanna. Lord Tywin attempted to resign the next morning, but Aerys refused to accept. And thus, Tywin Lannister remained Hand of the King. Courtiers at the court who wished to win the king's favor and gain advancement soon learned the best way to gain the king's eye was to mock and make japes about Lord Tywin. King Aerys continued to undermine and slight his Hand, which amused many lords who were rivals of Lord Tywin or who simply disliked the humorless man.
Tywin Lannister suffered all these slights in silence, never showing any public display of weakness. When Joanna Lannister died in childbirth in AC , the king had been heard to remark that Joanna had died, and Tywin had begotten his dwarf son instead from the gods, "to teach him some humility at last". These reports would reach Casterly Rock , where Lord Tywin was in mourning. From that moment on, all the old affection between the old childhood friends was gone. Yet still, Lord Tywin continued to serve the realm as Hand of the King, whilst King Aerys grew increasingly violent, suspicious and erratic.
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The king's madness abated slightly with the birth of another son, who he named Jaehaerys , in AC. In fact, Jaehaerys's birth almost restored the king to his old self. This changed when Jaehaerys died later that same year. In a black rage, Aerys had the boys wet nurse beheaded, convinced it had been her fault. He soon had a change of heart, and declared that his mistress was to blame, having poisoned the young babe. Aerys had her and her entire family tortured and eventually executed. Under torture, all confessed to murdering Prince Jaehaerys, though their accounts on Jaehaerys's death greatly differed from one another.
After this deed, however, Aerys changed his mind yet again. He fasted for a fortnight, and made a walk of repentance across the city, to the Great Sept of Baelor. There, he prayed with the High Septon. When he returned, he announced that he would remain true to his wife and marital vows from that moment forth.
In AC , Rhaella gave birth to a son named Viserys.
While the child was healthy enough, Aerys was paranoid about the boy's safety. Kingsguard knights were ordered to stand over the babe, day and night. No one, not even Queen Rhaella, was allowed to be alone with Viserys. Gifts that came from all over the realm for the new prince were piled up in the yard and burned on Aerys's orders, as the king feared they might be cursed or ensorcelled. When Rhaella's milk dried up, Aerys made his own food taster suckle on the nipples of the wet nurse, to ensure there was no poison on them. It has been suggested by history that this tourney was arranged as a gesture for reconciliation.
However, Aerys's fear of Tywin's power and ambition led him to reject the offer rudely, saying that Tywin was a mere servant of the crown, and no servant's daughter was fit to marry a prince of royal blood. The tourney ended without a final feast and Aerys departed in a chilly atmosphere. Tywin would not forget the insult. Lord Denys Darklyn of Duskendale desired to win a charter for Duskendale, which would give him more autonomy from the crown. He made his proposal to the crown in AC , but Lord Tywin Lannister, however, refused the proposal, but Lord Denys would not give up so easily. Having noticed the deteriorated relationship between Aerys and Tywin, Lord Denys decided to withhold his payments to the crown, and instead invited the king to Duskendale to hear his petition for a new charter.
While Aerys had intended to decline the invitation, the king changed his mind when Lord Tywin advised him to refuse in the strongest possible terms. Eager to demonstrate his ability to handle the situation without the help of his Hand, Aerys decided to settle the issue personally and bring the defiant Lord Darklyn to heel. The invitation proved to be a trap, however, and Aerys walked right into it.
Some of his escort most notably Ser Gwayne were killed trying to defend their king, Aerys was taken prisoner. Outrage was the response to this news from Duskendale. He massed an army and laid siege to the town in what became known as the Defiance of Duskendale. The situation remained in a stalemate for six months, with Lord Denys threatening to execute the king at the first sign that Tywin intended to storm the town.
In the end, it was Ser Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard who staged a daring infiltration and managed to rescue the king.
Lord Denys immediately surrendered and begged for mercy, but in his fury Aerys immediately had him beheaded. His rage still not sated, the king next ordered House Darklyn utterly destroyed, along with House Hollard , which had sided with them. Every last member of both families was tortured at excruciating length before being burned alive, with the sole exception of the child Dontos Hollard , who was spared only at Ser Barristan's pleading. Ser Barristan later developed doubts about his actions at Duskendale, wondering whether Aerys's death in Lord Denys's dungeon and Prince Rhaegar's ascent to the throne would not have spared the Seven Kingdoms much grief.
The Defiance of Duskendale plunged Aerys deeper into his descent into madness. Deeply shaken by his imprisonment, he refused to leave the Red Keep for the next four years. His jealous and suspicious nature deepened into paranoia and eventually outright delusions, seeing evidence of treachery everywhere. Aerys's relations with Lord Tywin deteriorated even more rapidly. The king felt his Hand had wanted him to perish in the dungeons of Duskendale.
Aerys also no longer trusted his wife or his heir. In his paranoia, Aerys believed that Tywin and Rhaegar had conspired to have him killed by storming Duskendale, so Rhaegar would ascend the Iron Throne and marry Tywin's daughter. To prevent such conspiracies between Rhaegar and Tywin, Aerys summoned his old childhood friend, Lord Steffon Baratheon , to court, making him a member of the small council.
Aerys publicly announced Steffon would go to Volantis , to find a bride for Rhaegar of "proud Valyrian blood". The fact that Aerys entrusted this task to Steffon instead of Tywin or Rhaegar caused many to mutter that Aerys intended to make Steffon his new Hand of the King, upon the successful completion of this mission, and that Aerys planned to have Lord Tywin arrested and executed for high treason.
Many lords took delight in the prospect. Fate had other plans. Lord Steffon's mission turned out to be a failure and on the return voyage his ship was caught in a storm and sank, just off the coast of Storm's End , in sight of his two eldest children, Robert and Stannis. Aerys got the notion in his head that Tywin had somehow assassinated Lord Steffon. He even stated to Pycelle that he could not dismiss Tywin as Hand, as Tywin would have him killed then as well.
In the final years of his reign where Tywin was still Hand, Aerys never met with Lord Tywin unless all seven of the Kingsguard knights were present. His paranoia and hysterical madness ever deepening, Aerys heard word of the talents of a certain eunuch named Varys. The eunuch was brought to court, and appointed as Aerys's master of whisperers on the small council. The king reasoned that only a foreigner with no competing loyalties in Westeros could be trusted to alert him of potential threats.
The Spider, as Varys became known to the smallfolk, used the crowns gold to form a vast web of informers. Many errors and spelling that were not caught, but I must say that when an author writes a story he should make the full story available. I went looking for the next book and found myself buying another series thinking it was a continuation of this series.
Left hanging it only made me disappointed in the author. Good read and wonderful characters wanted to keep reading did not want to put it down. One person found this helpful. It was a great story. The language was a little harsh for younger readers. I am looking forward to the next book. Can't wait for the next one!
The story is intriguing and I found myself getting emotionally attached to the characters. The book is very poorly written. Either needed a professional editor or one that was actually good at their job. Time and time again you catch grammatical errors that force you to go back and re-read a sentence just because it doesn't make sense. The series continues in an epic fashion. It is an action packed and fast paced. It could still use a once over to fix a few minor grammatical and spelling issues. However, it doesn't detract much from such a great story line.
It's a very very good read.
I cannot wait to read book 3. Well worth the time to time to read. I wonder what will happen next. See all 19 reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Lord of Dragons Princes of Naverstrom Book 2. Set up a giveaway. What other items do customers buy after viewing this item? Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Fire Mage Blacklight Chronicles Book 1. Dragon Mage Blacklight Chronicles Book 4.
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