Aemond Targaryen and Lucerys Velaryon

Aemond Targaryen and Lucerys Velaryon are half-uncle and nephew, but their relationship is defined by a childhood confrontation that transforms rivalry into lasting antagonism. At High Tide, Aemond secretly claims Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon, and returns from his first flight to find Lucerys and his brothers waiting. In the fight that follows, Lucerys comes to his brother’s defense and takes Aemond’s eye. What begins as a struggle between young princes then widens into a family and political crisis: the boys’ violence exposes the accusation surrounding Rhaenyra’s sons’ parentage, and the king’s efforts to settle the matter leave the opposing sides divided.

Family and Circumstances

Aemond is ten at the time of the confrontation; Lucerys, called Luke, is five. Luke is the youngest of Princess Rhaenyra’s sons, and Aemond is his half-uncle. Their age and rank do not prevent the relationship from becoming physically dangerous, but the conflict is not an equal contest of strength or experience: Aemond is older, while Luke’s decisive action comes when he sees his brother in danger.

The immediate context is Aemond’s determination to become a dragonrider. His siblings already have dragons, while he alone among them remains without one. His father has suggested that he might choose an egg or hatchling on Dragonstone, but Aemond rejects the prospect of waiting. At High Tide he sees Vhagar, a formidable dragon who has recently lost her rider, and resolves to claim her without his parents’ knowledge. The private ambition that sets the scene in motion therefore brings Aemond into direct conflict with the younger boys.

From Dragon Claim to Family Quarrel

Aemond goes to the dragons’ yard before dawn, while his parents are still asleep. His plan is to approach Vhagar in secret, but Luke is there early too, having come to see his own young dragon, Tyraxes. Luke warns him away from Vhagar. Aemond, fearing that Luke will raise the alarm, orders him to be quiet and pushes him aside. As Luke cries out, Aemond climbs onto Vhagar.

Vhagar breaks her chains and takes flight. Aemond circles the towers of High Tide twice before landing, having achieved what he set out to do: he is now a dragonrider. Yet the success does not end the encounter. Luke has fetched his brothers, Jace and Joffrey, and the three boys confront Aemond when he comes down. They have wooden swords from the training yard. Aemond fights them, and the insults he directs at them turn a dispute over the dragon into an attack on their standing within the family.

The violence escalates as Aemond overpowers the younger boys. When Jace attacks him again, Aemond beats him until Luke intervenes to protect his brother. Luke draws a dagger and cuts Aemond across the face, costing him his right eye. Stableboys separate the boys. In a single sequence, Aemond gains Vhagar and loses an eye; Luke, meanwhile, becomes the person who inflicted the injury at the center of the royal family’s ensuing dispute.

The Injury and the Accusation

King Viserys attempts to restore peace by requiring each boy to apologize to the others on the opposing side. The gesture does not satisfy either mother. Queen Alicent demands that Luke lose an eye in return for the injury to Aemond. Rhaenyra refuses that demand and instead presses for Aemond to explain where he learned to call her sons by a name that implied they were bastards. The accusation carries consequences beyond insult: if her sons are considered illegitimate, their rights of succession are threatened, and Rhaenyra herself could be accused of treason.

Under the king’s questioning, Aemond identifies his brother Aegon as the source of the claim. Aegon presents it not as a private secret but as something widely believed, pointing to the boys’ appearance. The exchange changes the meaning of Aemond and Luke’s fight. Their quarrel is no longer only about Vhagar, a warning, and a dangerous response; it has brought the disputed parentage of Rhaenyra’s sons into the open before the king and queens.

Settlement and Lasting Significance

Viserys ends the questioning and rules that no one will lose an eye. He also threatens severe punishment for anyone who repeats the accusation against his grandsons. He then orders Alicent and Rhaenyra to exchange expressions of affection. Their compliance does not persuade those around them that the underlying hostility has passed. The boys’ apology ritual and the adults’ prescribed reconciliation alike prove insufficient to undo what the confrontation has disclosed.

To prevent further conflict and end the rumors, Viserys orders Alicent and her sons to return with him to court, while Rhaenyra remains on Dragonstone with her sons. The decision separates the two branches of the family rather than resolving their disagreement. For Aemond and Luke, the confrontation thus fixes a relationship marked by both a direct injury and a larger political charge. Aemond’s later assessment that he had exchanged an eye for a dragon makes clear how differently he weighs the same day: what is for Luke the act of defending his brother becomes, in Aemond’s own reckoning, a price worth paying for Vhagar.