Battle of Rook's Rest

The Battle of Rook’s Rest was a decisive dragon battle of the Dance of the Dragons: Rhaenys Targaryen and Meleys were killed, Aegon II and Sunfyre were left severely incapacitated, and Aemond assumed power as Prince Regent. Its outcome grew from a deliberate royal trap set around a besieged castle.

The Siege and the Lure

Ser Criston Cole made Rook’s Rest his next objective after campaigning through Rosby, Stokeworth, and Duskendale. Forewarned of his approach, Lord Staunton shut the castle gates and refused to yield. Outside the walls, Cole’s forces devastated the surrounding fields, woods, villages, livestock, and inhabitants. As the castle’s provisions dwindled, Staunton sent a raven to Dragonstone to plead for aid. The message reached Rhaenyra and her supporters while they were mourning Ser Erryk and considering how to answer the attack. Nine days after Staunton’s appeal, Meleys appeared above Rook’s Rest with Rhaenys riding her; Cole had anticipated that a dragon would come to the castle’s relief, and had prepared his forces for that arrival.

The Trap and the Dragonfight

Cole’s preparations made the relief mission a trap. Archers and crossbowmen opened fire as Meleys approached, while scorpions launched iron bolts of the kind used against Meraxes in Dorne. The attacks struck Meleys but did not stop her from descending and using her fire against the troops. Through the smoke, Cole directed his men to aim at the rider. Then Aegon II arrived on Sunfyre, with Aemond on Vhagar: Cole had counted on a dragon coming to Staunton’s aid, and the king and his brother completed the ambush.

Rhaenys did not turn away. She wheeled Meleys toward the two opposing dragons, although the account presents the combined strength of Vhagar and Sunfyre as overwhelming. The three dragons collided high above the battlefield and fell together. The impact was felt at Rook’s Rest itself, where stones came down from the castle battlements. When the fires had subsided, Vhagar alone had emerged unharmed; Meleys was dead, and Sunfyre could no longer fly.

Losses and the Aftermath

When the fires died down, Vhagar was the only dragon to rise unhurt. Meleys had been killed in the fall, while Sunfyre’s injuries left him unable to fly. A body believed to be Rhaenys Targaryen’s was found beside Meleys, but the damage meant that her identity could not be confirmed with certainty. She was fifty-five. Eight hundred knights, squires, and common soldiers had also died in the battle.

The fighting continued after the dragons fell. Aemond and Criston Cole took Rook’s Rest and put its garrison to death; another hundred people died. Lord Staunton’s head was carried to King’s Landing and displayed above the Old Gate. The head of Meleys was drawn through the city on a cart, a spectacle that stunned the smallfolk. Septon Eustace reports that thousands left the capital afterward, until Queen Dowager Alicent ordered its gates closed and barred.

Aegon II survived, but was carried back to King’s Landing in a closed litter and did not leave his bed for the rest of the year. Septons prayed for him, while maesters treated him with potions and milk of the poppy; he slept through most of each day and woke only briefly to eat. Only Alicent and Criston Cole were admitted to him. Helaena Targaryen, consumed by her own grief and madness, did not attempt to visit.

Sunfyre remained in the fields beyond Rook’s Rest, too large to move and unable to fly with his injured wing. At first he fed on the dead left on the battlefield; once that source was gone, the men Cole had assigned to guard him brought calves and sheep. The king and his dragon were thus both left apart from the seat of power: Aegon confined to his bed, Sunfyre stranded among the ashes.

The Regency

With Aegon II unable to rule, Criston Cole instructed Aemond to govern until his brother was strong enough to take the crown again. Aemond took up Aegon the Conqueror’s iron-and-ruby crown but did not style himself king: he named himself Protector of the Realm and Prince Regent, while Cole remained Hand of the King. The battle had therefore destroyed one dragon, crippled another, and abruptly shifted royal power to Aemond without formally replacing Aegon II.