The Submission of the Vale to Aegon was a bloodless conquest that turned the Vale’s formidable defenses into a display of their limits against a dragon. Visenya Targaryen’s arrival at the Eyrie brought Sharra Arryn to surrender the Vale’s regalia and garrison swords; Ronnel Arryn then flew with Visenya and returned as a lord rather than a king.

The approach to the Vale

After Torrhen Stark submitted to Aegon Targaryen, Aegon turned south toward Oldtown while his sisters mounted their dragons: Visenya flew for the Vale, and Rhaenys Targaryen for Sunspear and Dorne. The Vale’s regent, Sharra Arryn, had prepared for an attack by land. She strengthened Gulltown’s defenses, moved a strong host to the Bloody Gate, and tripled the garrisons at Stone, Snow, and Sky, the waycastles guarding the approach to the Eyrie.

Those precautions could not stop Visenya. Riding Vhagar, she passed over the defenses and landed in the Eyrie’s inner courtyard. The contrast was decisive: the Vale had guarded its roads and passes, but Visenya’s dragon carried her directly to its seat of power.

The surrender at the Eyrie

Sharra hurried out with a dozen guards to confront the queen. Instead, she found Visenya with Ronnel seated on her knee, gazing at the dragon in wonder. The account describes no threats or angry exchange; the two women smiled and exchanged courtesies. The boy asked to fly with Visenya, and the encounter’s tone remained one of wonder rather than armed resistance.

Sharra then sent for three crowns: her regent’s coronet, her son’s small crown, and the Falcon Crown of Mountain and Vale, worn by the Arryn kings for a thousand years. She surrendered them to Visenya along with the swords of the garrison. The crowns made the transfer of authority visible, while the swords signaled that the Vale’s defenses would not be used to contest it.

Ronnel’s flight and the result

According to the account, Ronnel flew three times around the summit of the Giant’s Lance with Visenya. He landed to find himself a little lord: the flight that fulfilled the child king’s wish also marked the end of his kingship. The submission brought the Vale into Aegon’s realm without a battle, and Visenya accomplished with a landing what Sharra’s preparations had been designed to prevent.

The episode formed part of a larger conquest in which public symbols helped establish rule. Aegon’s red three-headed dragon banner and first crowning had already presented him as a king of Westeros; after the Vale’s submission, he continued toward Oldtown, where he would receive a second coronation. That later ceremony used the style of King of the Seven Kingdoms even though Dorne remained outside his rule. The Vale’s surrender was thus both a local transfer of power and a step in the campaign to bring the realm under one crown.