Fire & Blood

Title: Fire & Blood

Author: George R. R. Martin

Published by: HarperCollins (Hardcover)

Published in: 2018

Pages: 706

A ruler needs a good head and a true heart. A cock is not essential.

Heirs of the Dragon: A Question of Succession

Sigh.

I bet you know what I have in mind whenever GRRM releases a new book and it is not The Winds of Winter. But I guess at some point I have come to terms with whatever fuckery this is, and just enjoy any new Ice and Fire material.

So!

Fire & Blood comes in more or less the same vein as The World of Ice and Fire. Both were (supposedly) written by a Maester chronicling the history of Westeros and, sometimes, Essos. The main difference is while TWoIaF covers the pre-historic Dawn Age to present day, Fire & Blood only narrates the history of the Targaryens.

From Aegon's Conquest to the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, the book managed to capture the most interesting phase of the Targaryen's reign. Not that anything about the Targs is uninteresting, lol. Honestly, although Starks are always the protagonists, Targaryens have the richest story. Reading the reign of each king feels like reading an actual history book: layered, multidimensional.

Someone made a summary on the reign of kings covered in this book, so let me put this up here for your reference:

Aegon I
1. Aegon's Conquest
2. Reign of the Dragon - The Wars of King Aegon I
3. Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I
Aenys I & Maegor I
1. The Sons of the Dragon
Jaehaerys I
1. Prince into King - The Ascension of Jaehaerys I
2. The Year of the Three Brides - 49 AC
3. A Surfeit of Rulers
4. A Time of Testing - The Realm Remade
5. Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I
6. Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies
7. The Long Reign - Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain
Viserys I
1. Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession
Aegon II
1. The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens
2. The Dying of the Dragons - A Son for a Son
3. The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold
4. The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant
5. The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown
6. The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II
Aegon III
1. Aftermath - The Hour of the Wolf
2. Under the Regents - The Hooded Hand
3. Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows
4. Under the Regents - The Voyage of Alyn Oakenfist
5. The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency

Did I miss anything? ;)

EGGLYSIS

Here's why I think Fire & Blood is superior to TWoIaF: Targaryens. No offense to other interesting history of Ice and Fire, but when it comes to rich, compelling storytelling, Targs takes the cake. No wonder the HBO execs immediately greenlit the House of the Dragon (a prequel story of a House that died down at the end of Game of Thrones) and shut down the production of The Long Night (another GoT prequel, this time about the Children of the Forest and the Others).

Take for instance, Maegor I Targaryen -- more commonly known as Maegor the Cruel. He was the son of Visenya, Aegon the Conqueror's least loved half-sister, if you may. In the main series, ASoIaF, whenever Maegor was brought up, all everyone talked about was his cruelty and tyranny. While all of that was true, his story shed another light. It is said that Visenya was barren and couldn't have a baby, until one day she announced that she was pregnant and birthed a boy so strong, there were rumours that she used some sort of magic to have him. I mean, it wasn't entirely impossible. We all know how cunning Visenya could be.

What amazed me was how, at some point, I got so carried away that while Maegor was a horrible human being, his leadership was necessary for a tumultuous period such as this. I mean, after the death of the conqueror, it is only normal for the conquered kingdoms to have petty bickerings. It was just their luck to have Aenys I ascended the throne first. Maegor was the one cleaning up his half-brother's shit, though at times he did go waaay overboard.

Another example is good king Jaehaerys. In ASoIaF, everyone looked back fondly of him. He had a very, very long reign, he was an excellent king, and so much beloved. But you know what? He was not so wise after all. Some of his decisions regarding his children were questionable, and especially to his daughters he could be a rather mysogynistic prick.

But the meat of the story of course comes during and after the reign of Viserys I. Simply known to the fandom as The Blacks and the Greens, it's basically the story you get to witness when watching HotD. See, King Viserys I only had a daughter from his first marriage. Her name was Rhaenyra, and since little she'd been groomed to take over the iron throne from his father. Viserys made sure that all the lords and ladies of Westeros swore fealty to her. But alas, the intrigues and politics of Westeros mirror much of our own. Not long after Viserys' death, a coup d'etat occured, which divided not only House Targaryen but also the whole realm, as to who should sit the iron throne. Thus, the worst civil war Westeros had ever seen, the Dance of the Dragons, began.

Because my job here is to excite and fascinate you guys mere days before the premiere of HBO's House of the Dragon, let me quote arguably the most badass scene of the entire story. What is known as the Battle Above the Gods Eye.

And it was then, the tales tell us, that Prince Daemon Targaryen swung a leg over his saddle and leapt from one dragon to the other. In his hand was Dark Sister, the sword of Queen Visenya. As Aemond One-Eye looked up in terror, fumbling with the chains that bound him to his saddle, Daemon ripped off his nephew's helm and drove the sword down into his blind eye, so hard the point came out the back of the young prince's throat.

The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant