The 55 AC Tourney at King's Landing turned the newly completed Dragonpit into the setting for one of the capital’s most spectacular contests. Jousting in the fields and a grand melee beneath the pit’s dome drew the realm’s knights and crowds, while the event’s celebrations also made public favorites of its champions and several unlikely competitors.

Setting and Jousting

Held at midyear to celebrate the completion of the Dragonpit, the tourney began with lists raised in the fields west of the city walls, between the Lion Gate and the King’s Gate. The jousting was remembered as especially splendid. Lord Redwyne’s eldest son, Ser Robert, displayed his skill with a lance against the best competitors the realm could offer, while his brother Rickard won the squire’s tourney. The king knighted Rickard on the field, making the occasion a public recognition of his achievement as well as a family triumph.

The champion’s laurels went to Ser Simon Dondarrion of Blackhaven. His victory brought him the affection of the commons and the queen when he crowned Princess Daenerys Targaryen queen of love and beauty. The ceremony linked martial success with courtly honor, and its popular response made the young princess part of the day’s public spectacle.

The Grand Melee

The Dragonpit had not yet received any dragons, and its vast interior was instead chosen for the grand melee. Seventy-seven knights competed in eleven teams, beginning on horseback and continuing on foot after they were unhorsed. Their blunted weapons included swords, maces, axes, and morningstars. Teams were eliminated until one remained; then its surviving members turned against one another, leaving a single champion.

The contest was hard-fought despite the blunted weapons: two men were killed and more than forty wounded. Queen Alysanne kept her favorites, Jonquil Darke and Tom the Strummer, from taking part. The old Keg o’ Ale nevertheless entered the melee and drew cheers from the commons. When he fell, the crowd transferred its enthusiasm to the upjumped squire Ser Harys Hogg. His house name and pig’s-head helm earned him the nickname Harry the Ham, turning an otherwise obscure competitor into a favorite of the spectators.

Other notable participants included Ser Alyn Bullock, formerly of Dragonstone; Ser Borys, Ser Garon, and Ser Ronnal, brothers of Rogar Baratheon; the hedge knight Ser Guyle the Cunning; and Ser Alastor Reyne, champion of the westerlands and master-at-arms at Casterly Rock. After hours of combat, the last man standing was Ser Lucamore Strong, a broad-shouldered young knight from the riverlands.

Public Spectacle and Significance

The tourney brought together different forms of recognition: skill with the lance, a squire’s advancement to knighthood, the queen’s favor, and survival in a mass contest. Its crowds cheered not only established champions but also competitors whose appeal came from personality or appearance, as the reception of Keg o’ Ale and Harry the Ham showed. The Dragonpit, built to house dragons but not yet occupied by them, served instead as an arena for a human contest whose danger proved real even with blunted arms.