How Aemond Targaryen Dies in Fire and Blood: The Duel Above the Gods' Eye

In George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, Prince Aemond Targaryen does not fall to a political assassination or some ailment. He dies in a duel to the death with his uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen, high above the Gods' Eye lake near Harrenhal, and Daemon ends it by driving Dark Sister through his nephew's blind eye.

History knows Aemond as Kinslayer, after the tragic death of his nephew Luke Velaryon. To me he is Aemond the One Eye. His end is, according to the book, a sight to see in the Riverlands. Men of his standing traditionally fall to some form of political assassination or ailment, like the satisfying death of Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones. Aemond's end comes instead from the legendary battle above the Gods' Eye.

Aemond Wore the Conqueror's Crown and Unleashed His Rage on the Riverlands

I call Aemond a man of that standing because he took up the Iron and Ruby Crown of Aegon the Conqueror when he became Prince Regent in his brother's stead. He was said to have stated that it looked better on himself than it ever did on Aegon the Second. That is a prideful and boastful insult against Aegon the Magnanimous.

After he abandoned King's Landing, and after his mother Alicent Hightower's strategic betrayal allowed Team Black to seize the Iron Throne without resistance, Aemond was consumed by an indescribable rage. Anyone who has seen him in House of the Dragon can imagine how furious he can get. Riding Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon in the world at the time, he abandoned structured military tactics entirely and chose to terrorise the Riverlands, attempting to burn everything down to ash.

It is said that he incinerated every village, holdfast and crop field associated with Rhaenyra's cause, turning the heart of Westeros into a charred wasteland. His extreme, erratic behaviour came partly from deep psychological isolation and betrayal by his kin, with a pinch of madness, and because of Vhagar's sheer size he considered himself entirely invincible.

Harrenhal and Alys Rivers Fed Aemond's Delusion That No One Could Challenge Him

Earlier, Aemond had gathered an army together with Ser Criston Cole, the Hand of the King, and they marched against Prince Daemon at Harrenhal. It was during this march that King's Landing fell to Rhaenyra and Daemon. After recapturing Harrenhal, Aemond ordered the deaths of Ser Simon Strong and his kin.

The text also notes that Alys Rivers, the witch, was spared and later became Aemond's bedmate. It was she who prevented Aemond from strangling a squire who came to inform Harrenhal of the Greens' defeat in the battle by the lakeshore. Aemond and Criston Cole then split up, and Aemond took Vhagar to burn numerous Black aligned settlements throughout the Riverlands, which provoked the wrath of his formidable uncle and led to the duel above the Gods' Eye.

It is said that when it really came down to it, Aemond was accompanied only by his lover, the mysterious Alys Rivers, who claimed to see visions of the future in the fires of Harrenhal. Having tamed a witch queen in his bed and a monstrous dragon in the sky, Aemond operated under the delusion that no force on Earth could ever challenge him. In my view, this confrontation with Daemon in the Riverlands stood alone in all the Seven Kingdoms as the pivotal turning point of the Dance of the Dragons, a scorched earth battle that neither man could have survived, altering the trajectory of House Targaryen forever.

Daemon Had Promised Rhaenyra a Son for a Son Long Before the Duel

Before any of this, Daemon already had reason enough to kill Aemond. When young Luke was murdered on his envoy 14 months before the battle above the Gods' Eye in the books, Daemon swore to avenge him, promising his wife Rhaenyra a son for a son. He contacted Mysaria and arranged for Blood and Cheese to kill Aegon the Second's son, Jaehaerys. In House of the Dragon, the attack was originally intended for Aemond's head.

By changing the target to Aemond in the show, I think the writers attempted to frame the cold blooded assassination of a child as a tragic mistake, as opposed to the hyper deliberate torture of the noble Helaena and her children that George R.R. Martin depicts.

That long standing blood feud, which started with Luke's death and set off a series of events leading into the Dance of the Dragons, combined with Aemond's acts of terror against Daemon's bannermen in the Riverlands, is what broke the camel's back. The Riverlands were Daemon's primary power base, and Aemond was systematically destroying every last one of his allies. Daemon was also the single most experienced military commander for the Blacks besides the Sea Snake, whose command was primarily naval, while Aemond was a constant thorn in their side from the Greens. Daemon understood the war could not be easily won unless Vhagar was permanently taken out, so by challenging Aemond to a fight to the death he sought to destroy the beacon of hope for the Greens, even if it cost him his own life.

Nettles and a Broken Trust Pushed Daemon Toward Harrenhal

Shortly before the duel, Queen Rhaenyra fell prey to a certain paranoia and ordered the arrest of the lowborn girl Nettles, a dragonseed with whom Daemon had grown very close during a mission they were carrying out together. Rhaenyra believed Nettles was Daemon's lover and a traitor because of how close they were. Instead of obeying his wife's order to execute Nettles, Daemon let her escape.

Knowing he had broken Rhaenyra's trust and that his relationship with her was severely compromised, Daemon chose to ride to Harrenhal to die a warrior's death by challenging Vhagar's rider, while still helping to win the war somehow if he succeeded, rather than return to face the wrath of the queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

Aemond's Guerrilla Raids Made Him Impossible to Hunt

The mission itself was this: Daemon and Nettles were following Queen Rhaenyra's orders to seek out and destroy Vhagar and her rider. They searched for months throughout the Riverlands, basing themselves around Maidenpool, but could not find Aemond because he did not stay in one place.

Aemond was constantly moving across the vast Riverlands, specifically around the Trident, using a highly mobile guerrilla strategy. He would descend from the sky, burn a town or castle and vanish back into the clouds. He might strike one location and, by the next day, be burning a completely different settlement 150 miles away, with no predictable pattern that would let the Blacks counter him. Because the Riverlands are massive and full of forests, hills and waterways, it was impossible for Daemon and Nettles to track him. By the time word reached Maidenpool that a village was on fire, Aemond was already gone.

This was around the same time Rhaenyra sent a raven to Lord Mooton ordering Nettles' arrest and execution, which is why Daemon aided her escape. Realising that actively hunting Aemond in the skies was useless, and fearing he had betrayed his queen, Daemon abruptly left Maidenpool and came to Harrenhal alone with Caraxes.

Daemon Waited at Harrenhal Until Aemond Arrived With a Pregnant Alys

Daemon issued his challenge and waited 13 days, knowing that Aemond's pride could not let a direct, isolated duel go unanswered and that his connection to Alys Rivers would eventually draw him back. On the evening of the 22nd day of the fifth month of the year 130 AC, Aemond arrived at Harrenhal with a pregnant Alys on Vhagar's back.

I have to admit that before reading this in the books, I did not expect the witch to be expecting a child. I had somehow assumed she was immaculate. Then I remembered that even Melisandre, the Red Witch and priestess of the Lord of Light, had something going with Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones, so it should not have come as a surprise.

When Aemond arrived, he and Daemon talked briefly, and Aemond passionately kissed Alys goodbye before the two men mounted their dragons. During the talk, Aemond told Daemon, "You were a fool to come alone." Daemon gave what I find a very laughable reply: "Were I not alone, you would not have come." When Aemond went on to say, "You have lived too long, uncle," Daemon simply agreed.

Caraxes Struck From Aemond's Blind Side and Dark Sister Ended the Duel

Notably, Aemond carefully fastened his saddle chains to Vhagar, but Daemon left his dangling on Caraxes. That is a very dangerous thing to do so high in the sky, but I see it as Daemon recognising Vhagar's sheer bulk and accepting that, if push came to shove, he would have to kill the rider instead.

The battle above the Gods' Eye was said to be a sight to see. The dragonfire was so bright that the smallfolk feared the clouds themselves had been set aflame, and the dragons' shrieks and roars could be heard a dozen miles away. The duel ended when Caraxes came from Aemond's blind side and slammed into Vhagar, locking his teeth onto her neck, much like what Vhagar did to Meleys at the Battle of Rook's Rest in the show.

Locked together, both dragons fell toward the lake below. Caraxes' jaws kept tightening around Vhagar's neck even as Vhagar's teeth ripped away his wing and her claws opened his belly. Daemon then leapt from his dragon to the other, tore off Aemond's helm and drove Dark Sister through his nephew's blind eye so hard that the point came out the back of the young prince's throat. Aemond died instantly. A moment later both dragons crashed into the lake, sending up water as high as the Kingspyre Tower at Harrenhal. The impact was so catastrophic that it drained almost all remaining life from both dragons. Caraxes crawled out onto the shore and breathed his last near Harrenhal, while Vhagar sank to the bottom of the Gods' Eye, supposedly taking both riders with her.

Vhagar's Remains Held Aemond's Body for Years

It took years for the realm to recover Aemond's remains. Only after the Dance of the Dragons concluded, during the reign of King Aegon III, Rhaenyra's son, did divers finally locate Vhagar's resting place at the bottom of the lake. When they hauled up the massive skeleton of the largest she dragon the world had ever seen, they found Aemond's armoured corpse still securely strapped into his leather saddle. Daemon's body, however, has never been found.

Aemond's armour had rusted and his flesh had been eaten by the fish in the lake, but Dark Sister remained wedged deep inside his skull, driven down through his eye socket into his spine. One can only imagine the gore and the force with which Daemon struck his nephew.

Dark Sister and Vhagar Bring Visenya's Legacy Full Circle

Poetically enough, Dark Sister was the blade wielded by Queen Visenya Targaryen, the original rider of Vhagar during her brother Aegon's conquest. For Aemond to be executed on Vhagar's back by the very sword that once flew alongside her is almost as if Visenya herself had descended upon him in rage. "It's a brilliant piece of narrative writing that proves the weapons and dragons of the conquest cannot be so easily controlled by the short-sighted children of the dance without bringing about their own horrific destruction."

Aemond's blind ambition, symbolised by the sapphire in his empty eye socket, was answered by cold Valyrian steel driven through that same eye. It completed the revenge for Lucerys Velaryon and fulfilled the promise Daemon made to Rhaenyra while he was still alive: a son for a son.

Alys Rivers Claimed Aemond's Line Lived On

During the regency of Aegon III, Alys Rivers ruled Harrenhal as a witch queen. When Ser Regis Groves and Ser Damon Darry demanded her submission, Alys claimed to be Aemond's widow and presented a young boy as their trueborn son and the rightful king.

So at least some part of Aemond continued to live on until around 151 AC. After that point, I cannot confidently trace the lineage.

What do you think became of Aemond's line after 151 AC?