Year of the Stranger

The Year of the Stranger is the name later given to 54 AC, a dark turning point in the reign of Jaehaerys Targaryen. Death, division, and disaster accumulated across the year, beginning with the loss of a trusted religious figure and ending with a family tragedy whose consequences reached the royal council. By the first days of 55 AC, Princess Aerea Targaryen and Balerion were still missing, and Rhaena Targaryen had left court to search for them.

A Year Recognized Too Late

The name was applied in retrospect. Looking back, the maesters could identify ominous signs in the events of 54 AC, but even the Conclave’s archmaesters had not anticipated how dark the year would become. The label gathers together a succession of losses rather than describing one isolated disaster: deaths at court, the breaking of Rhaena’s household, and sickness on Dragonstone formed a chain whose effects continued after the year ended.

The first recorded death came soon after the new year celebrations, when Septon Oswyck died in his sleep. He had grown old and had been failing for some time, but his death mattered beyond the loss of an elderly courtier. When the Queen Regent, the King’s Hand, and the Faith had opposed the marriage of Jaehaerys and Alysanne Targaryen, Oswyck had agreed to perform the marriage rites. The king remembered that courage and arranged for Oswyck to be buried on Dragonstone, where he had served for many years. His passing therefore began the year’s toll with a reminder of loyalties tested in an earlier conflict.

Hope and Separation

While the Red Keep was still mourning, news from Storm’s End seemed to promise a happier turn: Alyssa Targaryen was pregnant again at forty-six. Grand Maester Benifer regarded the pregnancy as another miracle, but Septon Barth questioned whether she had recovered sufficiently from Boremund Baratheon’s birth to carry a child to term. Rogar Baratheon, by contrast, expected no difficulty, pointing to his wife’s history of bearing seven children. The competing responses—hope, caution, and confidence—preceded a delivery that would bring both a new life and a death into the same family.

On Dragonstone, a different separation was approaching. Elissa Farman had sought Rhaena’s help to obtain gold for a swift ship intended to sail the Sunset Sea; Rhaena refused, unable to bear the thought of her friend leaving. When Elissa finally announced that she would go, Rhaena did not try to detain her by pleading. Aerea, eleven years old and long accustomed to expecting the Iron Throne, wept and asked Elissa either to stay or to take her along on the voyage. Elissa left the next morning, travelling first to Driftmark and then across the narrow sea to Pentos, before continuing overland toward Braavos. Rhaena and Aerea believed she had gone no farther than Driftmark.

A fortnight later, three dragon eggs were discovered missing. Ser Merrell Bullock, commander of the castle garrison, concluded after questioning those with access to the dragons that Elissa had taken them. Rhaena responded with anger: she ordered more questioning, dismissed Merrell when it produced no answers, and expelled him, his son Ser Alyn, and other men she suspected. She also confronted her husband, Androw Farman, whose denials did not quiet her suspicions. Searches sent first to Driftmark and then to Pentos failed to find Elissa. The rupture was not simply a departure between friends; it left Rhaena without her closest companion and turned her household against itself.

Deaths on Dragonstone

The loss of Elissa was followed by further strain in Rhaena and Androw’s marriage. Androw asked to replace Merrell as commander of the garrison, but the request was met with laughter from Rhaena’s ladies and then from the queen herself. When she later flew to King’s Landing to report the stolen eggs, Androw offered to accompany her; she refused him scornfully. After Rhaena returned from Storm’s End, he withdrew into silence, while she found comfort among her ladies and companions.

That brief household peace ended with the arrival of sickness in autumn. The illness began with bloody stools and severe abdominal cramping. Maester Culiper could not determine its cause before he himself fell ill and died less than two days later. His successor, Maester Anselm, initially attributed Culiper’s death to his advanced age, but the next victim was Cassella Staunton, only fourteen. Septa Maryam, Alayne Royce, and Sam Stokeworth then sickened and died within hours of one another on the same night. The deaths made clear that the illness was not confined to the old or frail, and the queen’s circle was being devastated along with the household that served her.

Androw’s own death followed the poisoning and became the last notable death of 54 AC. The account connects the evil he had wrought with consequences that would spread beyond Dragonstone, even after the dragons had finished feeding. His death did not close the year’s story so much as mark the point from which its effects continued outward.

The Year’s Long Aftermath

Another consequence appeared in Jaehaerys’s small council. Daemon Velaryon asked to resign as Hand of the King after the deaths of his sister Alyssa and his young niece Lianna, who had been among the women poisoned on Dragonstone. The chronicle notes a suggestion that rivalry with Manfryd Redwyne also influenced his decision, but treats that explanation as a slight against a long-serving councillor. It instead accepts Daemon’s stated reasons: advancing age and a wish to spend his remaining years with his children and grandchildren on Driftmark. The losses of 54 AC thus reached into the king’s government as well as Rhaena’s household.

When the bells of King’s Landing welcomed 55 AC, the wounds of the previous year remained raw. The king, queen, and council feared what might follow, with Aerea and Balerion still beyond human knowledge and Rhaena gone in search of them. She travelled first to Oldtown, hoping her daughter might have sought out her twin, Rhaella. Neither Lord Donnel nor the High Septon could help, though Rhaena was able to spend time with Rhaella before continuing north and west through Highgarden, Crakehall, and Casterly Rock. No one had seen the missing princess or dragon. She returned to Fair Isle to confront Lord Franklyn Farman, who had no news of either and spoke bitterly of Rhaena and Elissa. The year’s name therefore carries an unresolved ending: its deaths were known, but the fate of Aerea and Balerion—and the search that drew Rhaena away from court—remained open.