The Royal Ban on Voyages to Valyria

The Royal Ban on Voyages to Valyria was Jaehaerys Targaryen’s response to the dangers revealed by Aerea Targaryen’s return from Valyria. It closed the ports of the Seven Kingdoms to ships suspected of entering the region and made travel there by the king’s subjects a capital offense, turning fear of an unknown place into an explicit royal prohibition.

Origins of the Edict

The ban followed Aerea Targaryen’s journey to Valyria on Balerion and her return in a condition that Septon Barth described as beyond his ability to explain. Balerion, too, came back with previously unseen scars and a long, jagged wound along his side. Barth’s account presented Valyria not as an empty ruin but as a place where unknown dangers might still exist. He later sealed his account among his private papers, where it remained undiscovered for almost a hundred years.

The history gives no certainty about what Barth told the king: it says only that he likely discussed his suspicions with Jaehaerys. The matter never came before the small council. Later that same year, however, the king issued the ban, linking the royal response in time to the return and the fears surrounding Valyria without establishing exactly how the advice reached him.

Scope and Penalty

The edict addressed both ships and people. Any vessel suspected of having visited the Valyrian islands or sailed the Smoking Sea was forbidden to land at any port or harbor in the Seven Kingdoms. The king’s own subjects were also forbidden to visit Valyria, with death specified as the penalty. The text does not describe particular arrests or prosecutions, so the ban is recorded as a royal decree rather than through examples of its enforcement.

Related Safeguards

Not long after the edict, Balerion became the first Targaryen dragon housed in the Dragonpit. Jaehaerys also ordered that all dragons be guarded night and day, wherever they were kept, to prevent another escape like Aerea’s. He created the Dragonkeepers for that task. These measures were distinct from the prohibition on voyages, but together they show the king responding to the same episode through both restricted access to Valyria and tighter protection of the dragons.

Significance

The ban converted an encounter with an unknown danger into a clear boundary enforced by royal authority: ships associated with Valyria could be denied entry, and the king’s subjects could face death for going there. Its recorded terms are unusually severe, but the account provides no broader code or later history of enforcement. The edict’s significance lies in the precaution it made explicit: Valyria was not merely a place from which the crown advised travelers to stay away, but a destination its subjects were forbidden to visit.